The Merchant of Four Seasons

In Munich in the 1950s, Hans Epp returns from years in the French Foreign Legion to a life that feels hollow. His mother greets him with a biting line about the good dying young and people like him coming back. The moment establishes the social pressure and personal longing that will haunt him.

Hans earns his living as a fruit peddler, calling out his wares as he travels through residential streets. He is married to Irmgard and has a young daughter, Renate, anchoring his life. A married woman in an apartment building asks him to deliver the pears in person; Hans declines, keeping his distance from temptation and from the life he once dreamed of.

Seeking escape, Hans spends an evening at a bar where the ordinary texture of his life feels unbearable. A flashback reveals the moment he brought a prostitute to the police station, where she seduced him and he was subsequently fired. The memory explains his fragile pride and his reliance on drink as an escape.

Irmgard comes to the bar to fetch him, but Hans, drunk, asserts he will go home on his own terms. He lashes out, throwing a chair, and returns to their apartment reeling from anger. By morning, Irmgard has disappeared, and Hans is left desperate and broken.

Irmgard flees with Renate and finds shelter with Hans' family. His bourgeois mother disdains Hans and favors his better-behaved sister Heidi, while Anna shows a rare moment of sympathy. Irmgard brings her troubles to the in-laws, sowing doubt about Hans but also highlighting the family’s longstanding prejudice.

Hans returns and tries to reconcile, but Irmgard pulls away while the men clash at length. The in-laws side with the mother, and Irmgard phones a lawyer to pursue a divorce. When she ends the call, Hans bursts into song, and the tension culminates in a searing, almost fatal moment.

The emotional turmoil triggers a heart attack that leaves him weak and vulnerable. He must confront the possibility that his dreams and his health are slipping away. The crisis becomes a turning point for his future choices.

While Hans recuperates, Irmgard begins an affair with a man she brings home. Their little daughter finds them in the act, and Irmgard is left sobbing afterward, torn between care and guilt. The betrayal complicates Hans' already fragile sense of security.

Back in the hospital, Hans and Irmgard reconcile, and she promises to stay by his side. The fragile truce hints at a renewed if unstable partnership and the dependence they have on each other amid hardship. The moment is quiet but loaded with unspoken questions.

After leaving the hospital, they return home and prepare to resume their life together. Irmgard explains that she finds him funny because he is short, and that her interest in him began for that reason. The revelation reframes their relationship and underscores how humor has shaped their bond.

With Hans unable to work, Irmgard takes charge of the business and brings in Anzell, the honest assistant who happened to be the man involved during Hans' hospitalization. She manipulates Anzell into overpricing produce and sharing the extra earnings with her. Hans grows suspicious, and Anzell is fired in disgrace, exposing Irmgard’s infidelity to him.

Hans reconnects with Harry, a close friend from his Foreign Legion days who now works as a waiter. He moves in and takes over the cart, running it with efficiency and earning more than Hans ever did. The new arrangement brings profit but also a deeper sense of obsolescence for Hans.

In a wave of depression, Hans returns to the memory of the great love from his youth. She is now married to someone else, yet she reveals herself and even undresses for a moment; he leaves rather than surrender his dignity. The moment underscores the fragility of longing and the boundaries of his current life.

Hans visits his sister Anna, hoping for support or company, but she is too absorbed with her studies to spare him much attention. The exchange emphasizes how little the family has to offer him and how isolated he has become. His search for connection continues without success.

At a grand dinner with his wife, Harry, and friends, Hans drinks dozens of shots of liquor. The binge proves fatal, and he dies on the spot, leaving his friends to mourn his passing. After the funeral, Harry agrees to stay with Irmgard and take up the life Hans had relinquished, a grim coda to a life spent chasing belonging.