An enjoyable, East German comedy with plenty of zingers at social problems in the former state, Das Versteck begins with a marriage that hits the skids. Max (Manfred Krug) and his wife Wanda (Jutta Hoffmann) have argued once too often and so he finally agrees to move out of their apartment. As a form of adjustment, a new boyfriend moves in with her and Max decides he wants her back. His ploy is to run to her seeking a place to hide from the police so he has a chance to gain back her good graces. He cons a fellow architect to act as a cop, but right from the beginning it is obvious that there are anomalies in the arrest warrant. The rest of the comedy has Wanda trying to surreptitiously nail Max for what he did, Max trying to nail the boyfriend, and the latter trying to manipulate Wanda. In the meantime, flashbacks note how the rocky marriage began and diatribes about the society's ills, architectural ills, and other cracks in East German life keep the humor at a high and lively level.
by Eleanor Mannikka
synopsis
