Fate has taken its toll on aging cabaret singer Ruth and young, but terminally ill, Jonas. Despite their age difference and entirely opposite life experiences, they give each other a reason and purpose to live. Jonas, a young man on the run, arrives in Berlin just in time to save Ruth’s life. Evicted from her apartment, the sarcastic yet warm-hearted Jewish songstress saw no other way out than suicide. Meanwhile Jonas, driven by a secret, is fleeing from his love and his future.
As Ruth recovers, she and Jonas form a deep bond informed by her own tragic love for a non-Jewish man in post-WWII Germany — a love burdened by the legacy of the horrors perpetrated by Nazi Germany. As Jonas discovers Ruth’s past and takes part in her present, his attentions and the passionate, lusty Yiddish songs of her youth help Ruth find her way back to life. In turn, when Ruth learns Jonas is incurably ill, she helps him find the strength to tackle his fears and forcefully to propose “L’Chaim – To Life!”
Featuring Hannelore Elsner, the grande dame of German cinema, and versatile young star Max Riemelt, director Uwe Janson uses music and story to weave a tale that effortlessly shifts between World War II, the post-war generation, and the present.