Life Is All You Get

Life Is All You Get
Life Is All You Get
Directed by	Wolfgang Becker
Written by	Tom Tykwer ; Wolfgang Becker;
Produced by	Stefan Arndt
Starring	Jürgen Vogel
Cinematography	Martin Kukula
Distributed by	Senator Film
Release date	22 February 1997;
Running time	115 minutes
Country	Germany
Language	German

Last updated January 12, 2026

Life Is All You Get (German : Das Leben ist eine Baustelle) is a 1997 German comedy film directed by Wolfgang Becker. It was entered into the 47th Berlin International Film Festival where it won an Honourable Mention.^[1] Joe Leydon of Variety praised the film as "an extremely engaging tale of life and love in a city where everything appears to be in a state of flux", and described it as "a smartly written and sharply observed comedy-drama. At its frequent best, pic has a fresh and larky charm that's reminiscent of fondly remembered French New Wave romances."^[2]

Cast

Jürgen Vogel as Jan Nebel
Christiane Paul as Vera
Ricky Tomlinson as Buddy
Meret Becker as Moni
Christina Papamichou as Kristina
Martina Gedeck as Lilo
Armin Rohde as Harri
Rebecca Hessing as Jenni
Andrea Sawatzki as Sylvia
Frank-Michael Köbe as Zivi 1 / Undercover Police Officer #1
Rainer Werner as Zivi 2 / Undercover Police Officer #2
Uwe Richter as Polizist 1 / Police Officer #1
Frank Kessler as Polizist 2 / Police Officer #2
Oliver Heschke as Polizist 3 / Police Officer #3

References

↑ "Berlinale: 1997 Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
↑ Leydon, Joe (16 March 1997). "Life Is All You Get". Variety. Retrieved 2 August 2021.

External links

Life is All You Get at IMDb

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[Berlinale-1] "Berlinale: 1997 Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Retrieved 8 January 2012.

[2] Leydon, Joe (16 March 1997). "Life Is All You Get". Variety. Retrieved 2 August 2021.

[1]

[2]

v t e Wolfgang Becker
Films directed	Schmetterlinge (1988) Child's Play (1992) Life Is All You Get (1997) Good Bye, Lenin! (2003) "Sick House" in Germany 09 (2009) Me and Kaminski (2015)
Company founded	X Filme Creative Pool

v t e Works by Tom Tykwer
Feature films	Deadly Maria (1993) Winter Sleepers (1997) Run Lola Run (1998) The Princess and the Warrior (2000) Heaven (2002) Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006) The International (2009) Three (2010) Cloud Atlas (2012) A Hologram for the King (2016) The Light (2025)
Short films	True (2004) Paris, je t'aime (2006; segment "Faubourg Saint-Denis") Germany 09: 13 Short Films About the State of the Nation (2009; segment "Feierlich reist") 60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero (2011; segment)
Writer only	Life Is All You Get (1997)
Producer only	Absolute Giganten (1999) Soundless (2004) A Friend of Mine (2006) Soul Boy (2010) Nairobi Half Life (2012) Veve (2014)
Television	Sense8 (2015–2018) Babylon Berlin (2017–present)
Company founded	X Filme Creative Pool

Life Is All You Get

Contents

Cast

References

External links