Learning to Lie

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title: "Learning to Lie" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["2003-films", "german-romantic-comedy-drama-films", "films-set-in-the-1980s", "films-set-in-the-1990s", "films-set-in-berlin", "films-set-in-germany", "films-set-in-west-germany", "films-based-on-german-novels", "films-shot-in-cologne", "films-shot-in-berlin", "2003-german-films", "x-verleih-films"] topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_to_Lie" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox film"]

Field	Value
image	Learning_to_Lie_Poster.jpg
caption	Theatrical release poster
name	Learning to Lie
director	Hendrik Handloegten
writer	Hendrik Handloegten
Frank Goosen
starring	Fabian Busch
Susanne Bormann
Fritzi Haberlandt
Birgit Minichmayr
Florian Lukas
producer	Maria Köpf
distributor	X Verleih (through Warner Bros. Pictures)
released
runtime	87 minutes
country	Germany
language	German
::

Learning to Lie () is a German film released in 2003. It is based on the novel of Frank Goosen from the year 2000.

Plot

Beginning in West Germany in 1982, 18-year-old school boy Helmut falls in love with fellow pupil Britta. He starts working for a peace movement to get to know Britta. Britta, however, suddenly moves to San Francisco to live with her father and whilst there, finds a new boyfriend. Helmut studies literature and politics in his home town and has a relationship with another girl from his former school, now studying medicine on the same university but they break up after having an affair with her roommate. Helmut begins a lot of short affairs with different women but still searches for his first girl.

Years later, in 1989, the Berlin Wall falls and the Cold War ends. Helmut is lying in his girlfriend's bed when his old school friend Mücke calls him, who saw Britta in Berlin. Helmut hurries to Berlin and finds Britta, but she has changed and has become arrogant. Mücke tells him afterwards that he had an affair with Britta and that Britta has had a lot of affairs. Worried by this, Helmut begins a lot of new affairs and his parents get divorced at that time. In 1998, Helmut settles down with a girl who wants a baby with him, but Helmut travels one more time to Berlin to meet Britta for one last time.

The novel

The film is based on the novel Liegen lernen by Frank Goosen from the year 2000. While the novel takes place in Bochum, the film was set in Düsseldorf. The novel has a lot of biographical moments from Goosen, but the story is typical for a West German youth in the 1980s. The novel became very popular through the great '80s revival in western Germany around the year 2000.

Cast

Fabian Busch as Helmut
Susanne Bormann as Britta
Fritzi Haberlandt as Gisela
Sophie Rois as Barbara
Anka Sarstedt as Gloria
Birgit Minichmayr as Tina
Florian Lukas as Mücke
Tino Mewes as the long Schäfer
Sebastian Münster as Beck
Beate Abraham as Helmut's Mother
Wilfried Dziallas as Helmut's father
Uwe Rohde as Uwe
André Meyer as Rüdiger
Jean Pierre Cornut as Professor Mutter
Heinz Schubert as Uncle Bertram

Crew

Direction: Hendrik Handloegten
Script: Frank Goosen and Hendrik Handloegten
Production: Maria Köpf
Music: Dieter Schleip
Camera: Florian Hoffmeister
Editing: Elena Bromund

References

Kay, Jeremy. (9 September 2003). "Liegen Lernen opens at three for Warner in Germany".

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