Synopsis

Set in Berlin and London, The Have-Nots look back at a time when our world got out of balance after the events of 9/11. Nothing is like it used to be, the rolling thunder of war is only heard on the radio, but its impacts strike closer and closer. Who wants to accept that?

After years apart Jakob and Isabelle meet again on September 11th, 2001 and fall in love. While the world around them is reduced to rubble they revolve around themselves and their newly found love. But their love is tainted. The couple feels responsible for the death of a mutual friend who died in the World Trade Center. The only chance they seem to be having is to face each in all honesty. A task that seems too big a challenge: perplexed and full of longing they witness their lives falling apart. A spiral of desire, guilt and estrangement is set in motion, leading to an outburst of uncontrolled violence.

The film talks about the invasion of world affairs into the private, about the inability to feel empathy and the longing for existential encounters. Isabel and Jakob find out that it is the encounter with one another that makes change possible.

Once we love differently we will live differently.

The film is based on the novel of the same name by German writer Katharina Hacker. 2006 Katharina Hacker received the Deutscher Buchpreis – Germany´s highest ranking literature price – for The Have-Nots.