A mother's world stands still in moving 'Good Bye Lenin!'

Sleeping Beauty, during her long nap, missed a few things — and such is the fate of Christiane, the heroine of Wolfgang Becker's warmhearted new film "Good Bye, Lenin!"

A busy socialist devoted to helping others in 1980s East Germany, Christiane (Katrin Sass) collapses with a heart attack one afternoon as she wanders through a street demonstration. It's October 1989, and during the long months that she lies in a coma, the Berlin Wall falls, capitalism rises and East Germany changes forever.

"Good Bye, Lenin!" is seen not through Christiane's eyes, but through those of her grown son Alex (Daniel Brühl). He's willing to ride with the changes in his country — Alex is an unruffled regular guy with a wide face and serene eyes — but he loves his mother dearly, and worries that the shock of this changed world will kill her.

When Christiane finally awakens, after eight months, Alex has a plan: During his mother's convalescence, he and his sister Ariane (Maria Simon, who has a lovely spark of mischief in her smile) will maintain the fiction that all is as it was before. Coming home from the hospital, Christiane is relieved as she is hurried into the apartment. "Nothing's changed here," she says.

Movie review Showtimes and trailer ***½ "Good Bye, Lenin!," with Daniel Brühl, Katrin Sass, Maria Simon, Chulpan Khamatova, Florian Lukas. Directed by Wolfgang Becker, from a screenplay by Bernd Lichtenberg and Becker. 118 minutes. Rated R for brief language and sexuality. In German with English subtitles. Seven Gables.

She doesn't know the half of it — Alex has retrieved old furniture tossed out by Ariane and her boyfriend, transferred new canned goods to old containers (the old brands are no longer available) and even, with a friend, recorded fake news broadcasts to play on the TV Christiane insists on watching from her bed. A lie, sprung from love, has created an artificial world; outside it, a worried Alex and Ariane cope with changing currency, Burger King, a Coca-Cola banner appearing outside Christiane's window and the surprising reappearance of their father, who had vanished when they were young.

Becker, himself a native West German but longtime Berliner, gives the film the grainy, yellowy look of an old TV program; this is a memory play, filtered through the haze of years. And he maintains an affectionate tone throughout; there's satire here, of both the old and new regimes (Coca-Cola is practically a character), but it's as gentle as Alex's face as he looks at his mother.

In one of the season's sweeter surprises, a film that's ostensibly about politics — there's a majestic shot of the Lenin statue soaring through the air as a helicopter carries it away — turns out to be a love story.

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com