A marriage can be divorced. You can quit the church or end your life. All kinds of things can be leased and returned used after a certain period of time. Children don't. To be a mother is forever. Like the apparently accepted definition of motherhood in this country, which turns women into creatures that are open to myths and criticism. Mothers are the people on whom the social need for standardization works. The fact that they put their self-determination aside is believed to be part of the deal. While the perception of the father's role is slowly changing, little is moving here, apart from the aimless debate under the heading of “Regretting Motherhood”.

For Carla Michelsen (Maren Kroymann), the actual rearing phase was a long time ago.

Her three children are grown up and, in her opinion, have turned out extremely badly.

She loves them, she says, but she doesn't like them.

Rita (Ulrike C. Tscharre) is an unsympathetic perfectionist.

Philipp (Stefan Konarske) a money-obsessed financial juggler with a giant ego.

And Doro (Jördis Triebel), who has been married to Hanna (Britta Hammelstein) for a long time without being ready to get married?

“Like Munch's scream in Hippie-Large” is the mother's illusion-free insight, whose stock of empathy has long been exhausted.

Instead of free service, there is termination

In the first half of the family film "Mother Announces" (book Freya Stewart, Gabriela Sperl, Ferdinand Arthuber), Rainer Kaufmann stages the great why of Entmutung with unsparing relentlessness towards the Blagen, all of whom were sent by the Nimm tribe to look after their mother to strain God-given natural law. No apple pie today? Instead of free service there is the termination of the family relationship and a lot of money for everyone from the sale of the parental home.

She is not a "mother mother", she lacks the tolerance, the devotion and the forgiveness, says Carla apologetically. The brood who have never lifted a finger thinks this is “mega-egoistic”. Nobody has noticed that mother has smoked for fifty years. At most the granddaughter Joe (Lena Urzendowsky), already pregnant at nineteen. Carla advises an abortion.

For ZDF family films in which the part of the understanding way-out belongs to the mother characters, this is definitely a lot of stuff. Just like the role drawing of the children as selfish beasts (which of course make a learning process). All three consider it normal that the late father (Ulrich Tukur as a supporting role guest in Carla's nightmares) as city theater director in a hotel suite received young actresses for decades. Otherwise the mother would have split up. Of course not from them. In any case, it is clear: "A mother is not allowed to do that."

With this opening, "mother quits" could go the way of the gossip. Or the grotesque. The film avoids both, instead it develops into a plea for differences. Some things look a bit like tolerance revue, but that doesn't hurt the entertaining film. With the cast of the main character Maren Kroymann, who has experienced a mature career swing in productions such as the political satire “Eichwald, MdB” or her comedy format “Kroymann”, the film opens up diverse playgrounds. Kroymann plays the woman without further mothering ambitions, without false sentimentality and with outspoken self-accusation. Of course, her figure is not about setting off.

Leading a new, free life with Rudi (Rainer Bock), who is registered as a gay household friend and lawyer, optionally with glitter fiddling and tailcoats, singing in night clubs and going into the sunset (to Suzi Quatros and Chris Norman's "Stumblin 'In"), responsible only Being for oneself and being able to build on the children's self-responsibility: That would be the future of their, so to speak, transcended motherhood.

The fact that “mother quits” generally remains compatible is due to the ensemble as well as the staging.

Those who rely on harmless entertainment will find it better elsewhere.

Mother quits

at 8:15 p.m. on ZDF.