''Erleuchtung garantiert'' (''Enlightenment Guaranteed'') is a 1999 German film directed by

Doris Dörrie Doris Dörrie (; born 26 May 1955) is a German film director, producer and author. Biography Born in Hanover, Dörrie completed her secondary education there in 1973. The same year, she began a two-year attendance in film studies in the drama de ...

about two brothers, Uwe (

Uwe Ochsenknecht Uwe Adam Ochsenknecht (; born 7 January 1956) is a German actor and singer. Career Films Ochsenknecht has starred in include ''Das Boot'' (1981), ''Schtonk!'' (1992), and the TV miniseries ''Frank Herbert's Dune'' (2000). In the early 1990s, ...

) and Gustav ( Gustav-Peter Wöhler), who travel to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in order to find themselves. The two plan to retreat for a while at the Monastery in Monzen in the Noto Peninsula, well away from

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. On their way there, in a rather literal

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

moment, the brothers lose all of their belongings. When they finally make it to the monastery, they find that even there,

enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

can be elusive.

Plot

The film begins by detailing the troubled lives of the two brothers; each is experiencing a mid life crisis. With four young children, Uwe and his wife Petra find their obligations overburdening, having little compassion for the other's problems and constantly bickering. Uwe leaves for work after a particularly stressful morning, during which he once again argues with his wife; while at work as a real estate agent, his wife packs up most of their belongings and moves out. Uwe finds a note when he comes home and is immediately distressed to tears. Meanwhile, his brother Gustav faces his own problems; though an enthusiast for Zen Buddhism, and outwardly more composed than his brother, Gustav's burdens are internal; he is afraid of making mistakes and also afraid of fear itself. Gustav plans a trip to a monastery in Monzen (far away from Tokyo) in order to find himself. Uwe, both greatly distressed and drunk, asks his brother to take him along. After much hesitation, Gustav agrees to buy his brother a ticket.

Production

''Enlightment Guaranteed'', though not a direct sequel to Dörrie's previous landmark 1985 film '' Men...'', starred both the same actors (albeit as different characters) and a similarly existential storyline, and was occasionally billed as a sequel to the film.

External links

* 2000 films 2000s German-language films Films about Buddhism Films set in Japan 2000 comedy films German comedy films Japan in non-Japanese culture 2000s German films {{2000s-Germany-film-stub