Envy is also not a solution

Life is beautiful! Actually… but perhaps also a bit too average. Marie and Markus Baumgartner (Stefanie Stappenbeck and Matthias Koeberlin) with their two average children in the average row house in Siegen realize this, however, only when an invitation from the almost forgotten school friend Heike Steiner (Christina Hecke) flutters into the house. While Marie and Markus have contentedly lived out their compromises, they have to realize when they arrive: Heike has realized all her life’s dreams. Whether it’s her husband Hans (Götz Otto), her job or her dream house on the lake – the Steiners’ life leaves nothing to be desired. That’s it for Marie’s satisfaction. Suddenly, the 40-year-old is in the middle of a midlife crisis! Her life, a collection of missed opportunities and wrong decisions? Marie doesn’t want to show her face and turns from a doctor’s assistant into a cardiologist for her friends and turns Markus into Mr. Perfect. The romantic weekend without children turns into a gauntlet in search of the meaning of life. When Markus gets fed up with Marie’s optimization mania, he launches a counteroffensive and the nice average life threatens to fall apart….

In addition to Stefanie Stappenbeck and Matthias Koeberlin, Christina Hecke, Götz Otto, Peter Prager, Stephan Luca and others are in front of the camera. The film is directed by Tobi Baumann. The screenplay was written by Johann A. Bunners and Martin Dolejs.

“Neid ist auch keine Lösung” is a commissioned production by Network Movie Film- und Fernsehproduktion GmbH & Co. KG, Cologne, Wolfgang Cimera. The editorial office at ZDF is headed by Thorsten Ritsch. Filming took place from July 21 to mid-August 2015 in Munich and at Ammersee.