Maren Ade’s latest film, Toni Erdmann, is a miracle. The director gained quiet acclaim for her previous films, The Forest for the Trees and Everyone Else, but it is Toni Erdmann that cements her as one of the newest great auteurs of cinema.

Ines Conradi (Sandra Huller) is a busy German business woman working for a consulting firm in Bucharest. On one of her brief visits home, she barely has any time for her lonely father Winfried (Peter Simonischeck). After his dog dies, Winfried decides to pay his daughter a visit in his most unusual way. Donning his fake teeth, Winfried shows up, unannounced, at Ines’ office. He later joins her for a tense weekend, where the hyper-serious Ines finds herself pitted against her well-meaning prankster father.

There is much depth to Ade’s film. Toni Erdmann is not just a three-hour long German comedy with the funniest nude scene of all time. While the humour runs high, there is a melancholy undertone that runs throughout. Winfried takes great pride in his uncomfortable take on comedy, yet each time he puts in his fake teeth, he sighs. It takes great effort for this man to make others chuckle. Running even deeper is the film’s examination of the Romanian lower class. Ines is currently creating a plan to outsource jobs for an oil company, displacing the Romanian workers who work there now. Ade spotlights the continued mistreatment and disregard for the lower class throughout the film, in both major and minor ways.

Toni Erdmann is the complete package. There is room for hearty laughter, applause, and some well-earned tears. It is the work of a great artist, sure to export great cinematic vision for years to come.

[star v=5]