Goethe-Kino: When Will It Be Again Like It Never Was Before by Sonja Heiss

Based on Joachim Meyerhoff’s bestselling book, this funny and tender coming-of-age story follows a boy growing up on the grounds of a psychiatric hospital, where the patients are part of the family.

Growing up on the grounds of a psychiatric hospitals in Northern Germany somehow - different. For Joachim, the youngest son of this institution’s director, the patients are like family. They are also far kinder to him than his two older brothers, whose constant teasing often drives him into fits of rage. His mother, who spends her days painting watercolors, dreams of Italian summer nights rather than endless German rain, while his father secretly - though not discreetly enough - pursues a life of his own. As Joachim slowly grows up, cracks begin to appear in his world - not only through the loss of his first love.
  Based on the second of Joachim Meyerhoff’s popular autobiographical novels and spanning more than three decades, from 1974 to the 1990s, this tragicomic film is both a coming-of-age story and a portrait of a family living under extraordinary circumstances, struggling to preserve their sense of togetherness over the years. While the father is determined to modernise psychiatric care, his own family slowly falls apart.
To tell this story, director Sonja Heiss has brought together the perfect ensemble, featuring Laura Tonke and Devid Striesow as Joachim's idiosyncratic parents, alongside Camille Loup Moltzen, Arsseni Bultmann, and Merlin Rose, who portray Joachim at three stages of his life - ages 7, 14, and 25, respectively. Surrounding them is a strong cast of professional and non-professional actors, including several performers with neurodivergent conditions who portray the hospital's patients, all of whom more than hold their own.

Germany 2023, colour, 116 mins. With English subtitles.
Directed by Sonja Heiss, written by Sonja Heiss and Lars Hubrich, based on the novel by Joachim Meyerhoff. With Arsseni Bultmann, Laura Tonke, Devid Striesow, Camile Loup Moltzen, Merlin Rose, Casper von Bülow, Pola Geiger, Claude Heinrich, Andreas Merker. 

We are screening this film in the lead-up to our KinoTage (30.9. - 3.10.2026), which will also feature Oh, This Unspeakable Void. Based on the third volume of Joachim Meyerhoff's autobiographical series, the film follows Joachim as he takes up acting in Munich and moves in with his grandparents, gradually getting to know their many quirks, habits, and passions.