Christian Schwarz | Bring Mich Nach Hause (Take Me Home) / 2025

boys on bikes

by Douglas Messerli

 

Manuel Hagen and Christian Schwarz (screenplay), Christian Schwarz (director) Bring Mich Nach Hause (Take Me Home) / 2025 [22 minutes]

 

Fourteen year-old Elias Winterfeld (Aurel Huber) lives with his father in a beautiful, but absolutely cold modernist home, fixing most meals for himself and basically living alone as his father Thomas (Michael Dieerenberger) runs off for meetings in Hamburg and elsewhere, even on the weekend of Elias’ birthday. He lacks no money, and has learned to live capably on his own, but as a young boy he is lonely and lost in the beautiful but nearly always empty suburban house. Even his classmates notice his quiet separation, one of them, Raphael Bergmann (Jonathan Utz) feeling some sympathy for his fellow student’s quietude.

    But seemingly all of Raphi’s attempts to even communicate with Elias are rebuffed with sharp phrases and a clear disinclination for any attempt at a relationship. But Ralphi is, as Elias puts it, an annoying would-be friend, who can make even Elias laugh, a kind of miracle given the new boy’s constant attempt to distance himself.

   Yet within a short walk home the two boy’s find a great deal to talk about, as Ralphi worm’s is way into the empty house presumably for a simple glass of water. Suddenly Ralphi realizes that Elias lives all alone in a grand house, without much light. The first few moments of entering the house speak truths that the young boy cannot himself express.

    Ralphi is overwhelmed the luxury of the house, making it clear that his parents, who work hard in a small shop by the school they attend, often even require his own sacrifice of time, affecting his grades.

   Elias vaguely talks about his father as being involved in real estate, which, of course, explains a great deal about the suburban palace in which he exists. His mother is even a vaguer figure, who has moved away with her boyfriend.

    Elias explains what has already become quite obvious, that his parents don’t really care much about him, his father not only ignoring this birthday, but his last as well. “A big house doesn’t really mean much when no one’s there.”

    Predictably perhaps, Ralphi invites his new friend to come help out in his parent’s store, if for no other reason that to take his mind off things.

     For the first time, the next morning, we see our lone prince change outfits just to look good for his new consort. But perhaps we are getting ahead of this slightly obvious story of gay love.

     The two boys do not bicycle off to Elias’ parent’s shop but travel through the country, representing the boys-on-bikes saga which general predicates growing teenage love.

    When they do finally reach the family shop, Ralphi’s mother (Stephanie Schreyvogl) is a dream, winking at her son’s new friendship as if she already knows that the boys are perfect for one another.

     The teens get on quite nicely as they work in the store side-by-side, Elias wondering does Ralphi just stock the shelves all day, to which his friend replies, “no, also the fridge.” Before you know it, the two boys are shoving one another, pushing bananas into one another’s face, and basically showing a great deal of the playful affection we knew was coming.

     At the end of the day, Elias takes his new-found friend on a trip to show him yet another private world, a quiet place by a pool of water, what boys do to show their love. By the end of the day, he is sad when Ralphi won’t join him in his empty house, having promised his mamma to be home early. Elias returns to the darkness and emptiness of the house.

     The next morning, quite early, the doorbell is already ringing, as Ralphi comes to take Elias on yet a new bicycle adventure. Returning to Ralphi’s parent’s shop, Elias is asked to close his eyes as his friend takes him home for a birthday celebration with his mother and his grandparents.

     All Elias can do is hug his friend and express his gratification. Is this love, a gay romance? No, simply a friendship that transcends anything the lonely Elias has even before experienced.

     This film does not enter new territory, but mines the comfort of a familiar relationship that Elias has never before experienced, and whether he is gay or not, will define his relationship with others for the rest of his life.

 

Los Angeles, April 12, 2026

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (April 2026).