Glasgow Film Festival 2025 – Two To One ★★★

Released: 2 May 2025

Director: Natja Brunckhorst

Starring: Sandra Hüller, Max Riemelt, Ronald Zehrfeld

Sandra Hüller had an awards season to remember in 2023/24, leading the Oscar winning Anatomy of A Fall and with a supporting role in The Zone of Interest. These two films couldn’t have been further apart with Hüller excelling in both as a widow, thrust into the spotlight following her husband’s death and as the wife of the commandant of Auschwitz. Her latest role Two To One strikes a more cheerful tone than those heavy awards titans, a comedic piece centred on the unification of Germany in 1990.

The East German Mark (Ostmark) is about to become worthless, with a limited time for people to trade it in. A group of friends Maren (Hüller), Robert (Max Riemelt), and Volker (Ronald Zehrfeld) stumble upon a hoard of notes and hatch an elaborate scheme with their neighbours to capitalise on the find. A get-rich-quick scheme, giving the money back to the people as they claim, against the backdrop of a scorching summer.

At the heart of Two To One is a great sense of fun and while other films like Goodbye Lenin have treated the unification of Germany more seriously, it is given a far more light-hearted approach here. There was a sense of uncertainty for East Germans at the time and this is captured in the communal response to the scheme, everyone wanting to capitalise.

The sequences involving the find are amongst some of the film’s strongest, adding an air of a heist film as the trio stumble onto a supposedly well-guarded facility, able to walk out without being noticed. This is where the comedy works best, proving playful and entertaining.

With East and West still not quite sure of one another there is a sense of the East trying to stick it to the West in the limited time they have left, distrustful of their soon-to-be compatriots. This adds an extra layer of fun to proceedings.

It might be slight and lacking in substantial depth. Yet Brunckhorst captures the period well with the East German clothes feeling of the time, coupled with the industrial architecture of the region, street art and interior décor, all building a sense of authenticity whilst making it feel lived in and of its time.

Two To One will likely garner extra attention due to Hüller’s role off the back of her awards successes and while it is not a match for her recent work, it is not entirely without merit. It is fun and will inform younger audiences of Germany’s recent history. The central trio share fine chemistry and their revolutionary tendencies and friendship is palpable. If there isn’t a huge amount to unpack, Two To One still covers a story often overlooked and does so in unorthodox, enjoyable fashion.