Tod auf Raten

Ronald, a former boxer, wakes to a life that refuses to stay in place. A crash has erased his short term memory, so the present keeps resetting and yesterday exists only as a murky echo. The past surfaces in fits and starts while the days ahead feel unstable. His world, once built on routines and clear faces, grows messy as he struggles to recognize people and hold onto a sense of purpose. Annett, Lorenzo, Florian and Monika circle him with care and frustration, trying to steady the ground while he tests the limits of what he can recall. The film follows his patient effort to relearn daily life and redefine who he is when memory slips away.

Directed by Andreas Arnstedt, Tod auf Raten is a 2016 German drama featuring Oliver Stokowski as Ronald alongside Veronica Ferres, Matthias Brenner, Constantin von Jascheroff and Janina Elkin. The film marks Arnstedt's restrained directorial approach to intimate character study, emphasizing performance over spectacle and a quiet, procedural pace.

There are no known major awards or nominations for Tod auf Raten, and the film has circulated mainly among German cinema audiences and festival programmers rather than grabbing headline recognition. Some regional film circles noted the film's sensitive handling of memory loss and the strength of its ensemble.

Beyond its limited international footprint, the film sits in a corner of German cinema that explores aging and memory through a tightly observed drama. The performances by Stokowski and Ferres have drawn attention from critics, and the film has sparked discussions about how memory shapes identity and relationships over time.

Reception frames the picture as a quiet character study rather than a conventional thriller. It centers on memory as identity, the stubborn hope to rebuild routine, and the strains memory loss places on family and friendship, with a restrained emotional pull that lingers after the credits.