Hoping to become a great singer in Germany, a young dreamer named Ernst Schrämli finds himself drawn into underhand dealings. Determined to escape a suffocating environment that annihilates any kind of creative or artistic impetus, Ernst sells information about the Swiss army to a Nazi spy by the name of August Schmid, who charms and manipulates him. When Ernst’s crime is uncovered, he is sentenced to death for espionage and treason, becoming the first Swiss citizen to be executed.
Ivo works as a palliative home-care nurse. Every day, she visits families, couples and single people. They live in small flats and large houses. They all have different lives and deaths. They all have different ways of dealing with the time that remains. At home, Ivo’s teenage daughter has long since become independent. From morning to night, Ivo drives around in her old Skoda which she has made into her personal living space. Here, she eats her meals, works, sings, swears and dreams. One of her patients, Solveigh, has become a close friend. Ivo has also formed a relationship with Solveigh’s husband, Franz. Day after day, the two work together to care for Solveigh. And they sleep with each other. Solveigh’s strength is diminishing and she soon has to rely on support for the simplest tasks. She wants the final decision to be her own: she wants Ivo to help her die.
As CFO, Alexander Meier fights for the survival of the long-established Walser company – dutifully, quickly and perfectionist to the point of self-abandonment. When Hans-Werner Brockmann, an unscrupulous top manager, is appointed, he gets involved in a power struggle that increasingly throws him off track. Before the ruins of his existence, Alexander sees only one possibility left to take revenge on Brockmann.
A weekend alone at home with the children - and already breaks out of the mess with Papa minor. For while Moll pushes overtime in the chocolate factory, between his children and the offspring of his boss a merciless battle breaks out: for cotton candy, homework - and the most famous circus dog in the world.
After a landslide in the Axenstrasse, geologist Mara Graf and her boyfriend, seismologist Gian Wyss, are investigating for the Seismological Service of the University of Technology in Switzerland. For Gian this is a good opportunity to spend some weeks of Spring at home. For Mara to be with her grandmother and sister. The next day Mara Gian want to anchor indicators at the bottom of Lake Lucerne in a dive. They decide to dive alone. Before Mara could follow him, an explosion rocked their ship.
This French-German-Dutch biopic on the life of 17th century Dutch master Rembrandt van Rijn is told in flashbacks from the point-of-view of the aged artist. Soon after establishing his career as a painter in Amsterdam, he marries the radiant Saskia. As he makes a name for himself, he can soon afford to buy a large house by teaching wealthy aristocrats how to paint. However, the couple's happiness is short-lived; Saskia dies soon after bearing their son, Titus. Crushed, van Rijn seeks comfort first in the arms of his maid Geertje and then with his second wife, Hendrickje, who gives birth to a daughter. In spite of his genius, van Rijn's determinedly eccentric behavior alienates the very members of the elite who were paying his bills. At one point, the artist's home and belongings, including many of his paintings, are seized and sold for humiliatingly low prices in a rigged auction.
Leo the foreign legionnaire, Wilhelm the priest and Charly the brothel owner are unequal brothers. Wilhelm is determined to have Charly's brothel closed down. When Charly kidnaps Wilhelm to his brothel, he recognizes his brother - and promptly pretends to be him. And then Leo comes along as well.
At the end of the 19th century, an educated white-collar worker finds himself in the employ of an inventor. As he is neither a "worker" nor an "owner," his position in the inventor's household and in the world at large is equivocal. Despite the difficulties he encounters, he tries to hold onto his job in order to support his family, but is eventually fired. This Swiss movie is based on a novel written around 1900 by Robert Walser.