An already dysfunctional family is shaken by news that both of their parents are about to die in the sprawling but richly-themed German drama from writer-director Matthias Glasner, split into five separate chapters. In the first, ageing mother Lissy Lunies (Harfouch) collapses after having defecated herself before receiving a phone call from the neighbours saying her husband Gerd (Bauer) is wandering around naked. Lissy has cancer; Gerd has advanced dementia and Parkinsons, and is about to be placed in a nursing home. The next chapter focuses on son Tom (Eidinger) a successful conductor but ultimately a bit of a sad sack. His ex-girlfriend is pregnant by another man, but she wants Tom to co-parent without getting back together. Then we turn to Tom’s estranged sister Ellen (Stangenberg), a talented singer and  self-destructive alcoholic, carrying on an ill-advised affair with her boss. Such is Ellen’s self-esteem that she has chosen a profession dentist’s assistant that ensures no one would like her. The latter chapters bring the siblings together. It sounds like a grim and heady mix, but Glasner’s insightful script is nimble and tartly amusing over the film’s three-hour running time, and the cast are excellent, particularly Eidinger. In a showstopping froideur-infused tragi-comic scene midway, Tom and mother Lissy confess their lack of feelings for each other. The meta touches – Tom’s composer colleague muses on the tightrope they are walking between authenticity and kitsch – feel a little surplus to requirement, but this is a superior and exceptionally well-mounted drama. The music choices, including a song by cult English artist Bill Faye, are immaculate.