Café Odeon

Widowed baker Zürrer has to raise his three children, who all turn out to be disappointments to him in various ways.

Thomas, the son of a prison warden, falls for Martin, one of the prison inmates. After Martin is released, they try to build a relationship and a life together but, no one will leave them alone.

A serial killer whose mother was a prostitute starts killing streetwalkers as a way of paying back his mother for her abuse.

Karl Tellenbach, called "Dällebach Kari", was one of Bern’s legendary characters at the beginning of the 20th century. Born with a strong hare lip which left him disfigured and gave his voice a peculiarl nasal tone, he devoted his entire life trying to get people to laugh with him instead of at him. Ultimately, his despairing at ever becoming accepted as a fellow man coupled with unrequited love made his life tragic, culminating in his suicide at age 54. His jokes are still well known today.

Provincial shop owner Jakob Stäubli and his wife Frieda are looking forward to celebrating Christmas together with their daughter Nelly. But Nelly doesn't come. She prefers to celebrate in the city in the company of her new boyfriend André, a "better gentleman." The saddened Stäublis decide to sell their shop and move to Zurich as well. As they explore the city together after the move, the two country bumpkins find themselves in all sorts of turbulent situations. Father Stäubli is also exposed to erotic temptations when his daughter's lover sends a woman after him to get money out of him.

Throughout the late 19th century and in the early part of the 20th, Russians of a wide variety of political persuasions contemplated various forms of revolution. Throughout the same period, they often had to seek asylum in other countries. This movie concerns Sergei (Roger Jendly), a revolutionary who kills a student in Russia and flees to Switzerland. Though he has the gifts and abilities to unify various revolutionary groups within Russia, once he has been forced to flee, they have no interest in him. When his presence in Switzerland threatens a trade agreement with the Tsar, he is tracked down and expelled.

In this interesting World War I drama, Bruno Ganz gives a compelling performance as Jakob, an obsessive inventor who lives in a Swiss village. He receives unconditional support from his friend Otti (Walo Luond), but that is about all; the other villagers do not tolerate Jakob's eccentricities very well, and regard him as a crackpot. He perserveres in spite of this obstacle and finally invents a viable carriage that does not run on wheels but on a tread. Unfortunately for Jakob, the military have already come up with the same invention: the tank. The discovery finally breaks him, and he is quickly shuttled off to an asylum.

Wäckerli, policeman in the small Swiss village of Allenwil, is in trouble. His son Ruedi is unhappy in his apprenticeship and spends way too much money. And now 10'000 francs have been stolen from the bourough's community fund...

The titular Marie-Louise is a young French lass who is evacuated to Switzerland when her country is overrun by the Nazis. Suffering a nervous breakdown, she is given comfort and shelter by a wealthy family. Unfortunately, living in the lap of luxury makes Marie-Louise hesitant to return home to her mother and war torn home. Eventually the girl comes to her senses, but it isn't easy.

While on a longer business trip, a wannabe poet urges his beautiful but more simple wife to answer his overly swollen love letters. With no idea how to respond she forwards the letters to a new young school teacher to use his answers instead...

Josef Rainer is a road worker in a mountain village in Liechtenstein. His wife Marianne works as a waitress in a restaurant to improve the meager housekeeping money. Some people ask themselves why she has married that poor devil since she could have married into money. But she stays to the keen wood carver. He works out fantastic objects of tree roots, but villagers jeer at him. The family dreams to get a cow of their own to be more independent. One day Josef scrapes together all savings and goes to the cattle market. Due to lack of money, a clever farmer palms a skinny, sick cow off on him. The children Hansli and his friend Ludmila take the cow to their heart. Ludmila even lends her name to the animal. Some time later Josef falls from a mountain and is unable to work for a long time. So a decision is made that cow Ludmila which produces no milk has to be slaughtered.

The 23-year-old Bruno accidentally clashes with society, the judicial and the police. Once he has exceeded the legal limits, he is stuck to the wrong side of the law.

Christa Andres runs a home for troubled girls. With great dedication, she tries to help girls who have gone astray return to a normal life. She takes special care of Erika, who works as a prostitute and one day runs away from the home. Christa sets out to search for the girl in the red-light district. In doing so, she is haunted by the shadows of her own past. The educator herself used to work as a prostitute. When she meets her former pimp, he tries to exploit his knowledge in a perfidious way and blackmail Christa...

The further trials of the wealthy Emmentaler farming family Jowäger and their neighbors, adapted from the second volume of the 19th century novel by Jeremias Gotthelf (pen-name of Albert Bitzius).

Switzerland 1523. The mercenary Hansli Gyr returns with his soldiers from Italy to his home in the Oberland. They have fought for the Pope and now find a religious upheaval in Switzerland.

A few leagues from Seldwyla, in the Zurich countryside, two children, Sali Mantz and Vreneli Marti, form an inseparable pair of playmates. Unfortunately, their farming parents, who have always been friends, are at odds with each other over the purchase of an adjoining field.Sali and Vreneli don't see each other again until much later and fall in love, but their parents still hate each other fiercely. Despite everything, the young couple will try to live their forbidden love.

The farmer Christen, his wife Änneli, their sons Resli and Christeli, and their daughter Annelisi live together harmoniously on the Liebiwyl farm. The harmony is disrupted when Christen allows himself to be persuaded by the deceitful village clerk to speculate with his ward's money. As a result, all the money is lost, and the defrauded farmer has to pay the community for the damage out of his own pocket. This angers Änneli, whose great willingness to help is thwarted by Christen, who is becoming increasingly stingy. One harsh word leads to another, and soon the couple is facing a shambles. The children also suffer from the unfriendly atmosphere at home. Only a visit to church on Pentecost and the corresponding sermon make reconciliation possible.

A small farmer's struggle for survival against the odds.

The farmers of a village decide to postpone the construction of a new school in profit of a concentration to cheese production. From a novel by Jeremias Gotthelf.

Uli has been the tenant of the "Glunggen-farm" for two years. His wife Vreneli gave him two children and the couple is happy. But this year, the harvest looks bad and his landlord calls in the rent, as the old man urgently needs money to satisfy the demands of his son and stepson. Desperate to make ends meet, Uli fraudulently sells a cow knowing that she does not produce any milk. He is pursued in court but is acquitted. But then, the buyer curses him... and disaster promptly strikes.

The trials of the wealthy Emmentaler farming family Jowäger, adapted from the 19th century novel of the same name by Jeremias Gotthelf (pen-name of Albert Bitzius), which was also published in two parts.

The search for a child murderer drags a once-respected detective into an all-consuming obsession.

A hairdresser is being recruited during World War I by the Swiss military where they turn this soft civilian into a 'real man'.

Constable Studer of the Bern cantonal police is stubborn and gnarled. Because of his nature, he has few friends. He has this in common with the murder victim: James Farny was known by everyone as "The Chinese". The man had traveled the world and now he has been found shot dead in the village cemetery: was it murder or did he kill himself? He had the gun in his hand. Studer doesn't believe it was suicide...

Experimental fiction film about young people taking on different creative tasks.

Berner police sergeant Studer celebrates his daughter's wedding at the inn of an old friend. When a murder occurs outside the restaurant late at night, he takes charge of the investigation. Strong debut performance by Hans Heinz Moser in the role of Glauser's brooding investigator Studer.

An East Berlin woman falls in love with a Swiss cook.

An episodic film, telling four erotic tales: Angela isn't sexually satisfied by her husband, so she simulates sleep-walking to visit her neighbor across the street every night; when his bathtub runs over, shy Peter gets to meet his sensuous neighbor Lolita; at a high-school reunion his former students pull a prank on Prof. Hellberg and make him believe he cheated on his wife while being drunk; Sybill has a good time during a break at the opera with the famous conductor Cramer.

September 1939 in Estavayer: An anti-aircraft battery of the Swiss militia takes up position near a hotel on the border. The daughter of the house is adored by all the soldiers. During a nighttime air battle in which a "foreign" aircraft is shot down, one of the soldiers is killed. Only the girl can comfort the overwhelmed soldiers; it is only an emergency during a storm that brings them together.