Wolfgang is a 1997 comedic short film (14 minutes) written and directed by Anders Thomas Jensen.
Werner, a man in late middle age, is the conductor for an orchestra which is about to play his own composition. The rather sparse crowd is already finding its seats but the performance cannot begin because Gert the tuba player, who has a solo, has panicked and is hiding up on the roof. Werner dashes to the roof, only to have an agonized Gert confess that he doesn't even like the tuba, that he wanted to play the violin, but he studied the tuba because his domineering mother forced him to. This leads Werner to make a surprising confession of his own.
Tropes:
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": Werner's mom was so determined that he be a composer that she named him "Wolfgang". He hates the name and insists that people call him "Werner" but his mother ignores him.
- Dramatic Drop: A resigned Werner/Wolfgang takes the stage for the performance, only to notice his mother slumped in her seat. He steps down and walks over and discovers that she is dead. He drops his sheet music and his baton and walks out of the auditorium without a backward glance.
- Here We Go Again!: After Werner's controlling mother died suddenly in her seat, Werner walks out. He makes it through the front door and is out on the sidewalk, when he sees his elderly grandmother, using a walker, demanding to know when the show will start.
- My Beloved Smother:
- Gert's mother badgered and dominated him into becoming a tuba player.
- Werner in his turn confesses that he didn't want to be a composer. He hates sheet music! It turns out that his domineering mother forced him into his career. It's implied that his mother foots the bills for the orchestra.
- The One That Got Away: Werner admits that he was once in love, that he had a girlfriend named Asla, who left him because she didn't like his mom.
- Performance Anxiety: Gert the tuba player cracks up, fleeing to the roof rather than playing.
