The beautiful, melancholiously shrouded comedy by Andreas Dresen and Wolfgang Kohlhaase is only at first glance a film about filmmaking. It is also a film about growing older, the impossibility of failure, and missed opportunities in life. Otto Kullberg is a famous actor whom women love and men like. Only occasionally does he drink too much. When he ruins a day of shooting because of this, the production hires the younger actor Arno Runge, with whom all scenes are to be shot a second time just to be safe. An acting duel begins, provoking the deeply offended Otto to peak performance. Movie partner Bettina Moll is his real-life ex-partner. Now she is the wife of the overwhelmed director. Thus Kullberg must not only fight in the film, but things are also increasingly getting mixed up in real life.