Matthias Beltz

9/11. Manhattan is in flames, Frankfurt is asleep. Suddenly, television bursts into a small private party. War is in the smallest shack, who protects our waterworks?

Gerhard, lawyer, 55, pragmatic, with a deep affection for his left-liberal past and Bille, paediatrician, left-liberal, progressive, had decided to get married. They want to celebrate this on a small scale as an engagement and have invited Johannes (Bille’s son) and his girlfriend Mascha. Additionally, they are expecting Gerhard’s former friend, the minister.

At first everyone agrees that getting married is a beautiful thing, they bathe in the waters of contentment and security. They make small talk about the classical topics: who’s a friend, who’s a foe? Politics is dull and empty after communism, technology and science rule the world, resistance has become impossible.
Suddenly, terrorism is there. They hear about the catastrophe in New York and begin swaying between shock and aesthetic fascination. All four of them have two principles fighting with each other: “fashion is the eternal return of the new” against “what should I wear after 9/11?” Then, the police are at their door. In their mania, the four barricade themselves inside, which results in a shooting. Gerhard gets hurt, but the policemen only wanted to inform them that the minister can’t come because it’s war now.

After this grotesque of confusion, Gerhard and Bille ask Johannes and Mascha to be the witnesses to their marriage. Both agree, because only love counts and life goes on. Nothing is like it hasn’t been before.