It's Christmastime, and the Griswolds are preparing for a family seasonal celebration. But things never run smoothly for Clark, his wife Ellen, and their two kids. Clark's continual bad luck is worsened by his obnoxious family guests, but he manages to keep going, knowing that his Christmas bonus is due soon.
A down-on-his luck writer meets a movie producer, who asks him to write a screenplay on the condition that he visit locations for the film. Chaos ensues.
Alice d'Abanville and Louis Ruinard are two extraordinary personalities. They were the most strikingly glamorous couple of the 70s. But this pair haven't seen each other in thirty years.
Six Californians start a club to discuss the works of Jane Austen. As they delve into Austen's literature, the club members find themselves dealing with life experiences that parallel the themes of the books they are reading.
Anna is a primary school teacher and a nervous wreck. The pupils do whatever they want to her. Thilo is an actor - but mainly on his business card. To earn money, he sells wine in a call center, or rather, he tries to. One day, mutual friends Valerie and Moritz play fate and bring the two together. But this also goes wrong: Anna has a minor nervous breakdown and Thilo - falls in love! Head over heels! But first they have to solve their own problems, face up to their reality and admit that they need to change something in their lives. And gradually Anna and Thilo find their way back to themselves and to each other, because life writes the most beautiful stories with love and music...
Summer in Germany, anno 1970. Italy is the number one destination. As every year, swarms of Teutonic tourists make their way to the Adriatic Sea. Only Willi Hirsekorn from Castrop-Rauxel has so far no plans to break south. That changes, however, as the bitchy neighbor Mizzi Buntje proudly tells of their upcoming holiday in Italy. Willi can not afford this boasting. Shortly determined, the bags are packed, and already rushes Willi in the car with his wife Sieglinde, daughter Lotti and son Kuno the sun.
Abandoned by her father, a young woman embarks on a thousand-mile odyssey through the backroads of America where she meets a disenfranchised drifter. But despite their best efforts, all roads lead back to their terrifying pasts and to a final stand that will determine whether their love can survive their otherness.
In a bleak Inverness midwinter, Luisaidh is careening off the rails after the suicide of her best friend. She medicates her misery with joyless sex, chips and a belief in the power of positive drinking. Surrounded by bittersweet memories, she struggles to find someone to talk to or some reason to make life worthwhile at the most stressful time of the year.
A black comedy set in the 1960s in a small Netherlands community, populated by a cast of eccentrics, all of whom hold a range of sexual obsessions and frustrated desires.
As Constance (Natasha Richardson) and Nina (Toni Collette) gather at the deathbed of their mother, Ann (Vanessa Redgrave), they learn for the first time that their mother lived an entire other lifetime during one evening 50 years ago. In vivid flashbacks, the young Ann (Claire Daines) spends one night with a man named Harris (Patrick Wilson), who was the love of her life.
A student's increasingly intimate line of questioning causes his interview with a local horror host to take a vulnerable turn.
Marcelline is an actress. Forty, single and childless, she begins rehearsals for Turgenev’s A Month in the Country. Denis, the director, admires her greatly and promises he’ll make her happy on stage — she will shine. But things don’t go to plan.
Helmut and Sabine Halm have always managed vacations of lazy privacy at their favorite retreat on Germany′s Lake Constance. So when the energetic, handsome Klaus Buch turns up with his beautiful girlfriend Helene, Helmut is quite ready to dismiss this dimly familiar acquaintance. But Klaus is overjoyed to recognize his old schoolmate Helmut, eager to recall every incident of their shared time, and to display every detail of this successful lifestyle as a fit sportsman and author. The precious days of privacy give way to an unwanted and awkward intimacy, as the Buchs and the Halms hike, dine and sail together. Their joint activities aggravate myriad psychological tensions among the four characters, which are all the more intensely ironic for their peaceful veneer and which must eventually erupt.
Extremely shy Lars finds it impossible to make friends or socialize. His brother and sister-in-law worry about him, so when he announces that he has a girlfriend he met on the Internet, they are overjoyed. But Lars' new lady is a life-size plastic woman. On the advice of a doctor, his family and the rest of the community go along with his delusion.
At 35, Tripp has an interesting job, a hip car, a passion for sailing, an active dating life, and a great house - trouble is, he still lives with his parents, Al and Sue, who are not happy about it. Al and Sue are fascinated when friends whose adult son has recently moved away from home reveal they hired an expert to help. In desperation to push Tripp out of the nest once and for all, Al and Sue hatch a plan to hire Paula, an "interventionist," who has a formula in these cases.
Author Max Zorn, now in his early 60s, is on a promotional book tour in New York when he encounters the woman he could never forget. They spend a weekend together, seventeen years have passed. Can there be a future for their past?
After failing to find success as a writer in New York City, Jim slinks back to his family's home in the Midwest to lick his wounds. But his visit is quickly complicated when his angst spreads to his brother, Tim, who promptly decides to drive his car straight into a tree. Under the shadow of his sibling's injurious actions, Jim strikes up an unlikely friendship with Anika, whose centered small-town wisdom gradually rubs off on him.
Corporate billionaire Edward Cole and working class mechanic Carter Chambers are worlds apart. At a crossroads in their lives, they share a hospital room and discover they have two things in common: a desire to spend the time they have left doing everything they ever wanted to do and an unrealized need to come to terms with who they are. Together they embark on the road trip of a lifetime, becoming friends along the way and learning to live life to the fullest, with insight and humor.
Yoshioka is a struggling sensual novel author. His wife, Michiru, believes in his talent and supports him. Unable to cope with his lack of success, Yoshioka becomes dependent on alcohol and women, causing much grief to Michiru, but she never leaves his side.Yoshioka vows to change and immerses himself in writing, finally publishing a novel and receiving an award. Months pass and one day on the beautiful Ishigakijima island, a drunk Yoshioka visits a local bar and tells the proprietress, Megumi, the story of how he disappointed his wife and eventually lost her in an traffic accident. Seeing the extent of his grief, Megumi tells Yoshioka about the Ishigakijima legend about a special “fragrance satchel”. If you take the satchel with you and go to a particular lighthouse, you will be able to meet a person who has died one last time for a short duration, until the smell of the satchel fades away. She hands him this fragrance satchel.
Anything can happen during Christmas Eve. Mel has to face new professional challenges and adapt to the new standards prevailing at work. Then Karina and Stephan plan to introduce serious changes in raising children. They decide to change their approach and apply somewhat sophisticated educational methods. A new woman will step in between Karolina and Filip, and the past will be reminded of Rudolf.