A Friend of Mine (Ein Freund von mir) is a 2006 German comedy-drama film written and directed by Sebastian Schipper who is a performer as well as a director and screenwriter.

The film tells the story of Karl (played by Daniel Brühl), an insurance executive, and his friendship with the free-spirited Hans (Jurgen Vogel) whom he meets after being assigned to spy on a questionable car rental service by his boss.

Karl's lifestyle and depressive nature soon changes after he meets Hans' girlfriend Stelle (Sabine Timoteo), and they establish a kind of ménage à trois.

The two characters switching clothes is not just done for comedic purposes but also to symbolize the new “role” Karl has assumed during this assignment given to him by his ‘real’ boss back at the insurance company.

These repetitive scenes include the character waking up with the sound of his alarm clock in the background, his rides up the buildings elevator, and a steady shot of his quiet office as he works.

For the film's premiere in October 2006, Brühl and Vogel set a world record for the most red-carpet appearances in twelve hours, with six screenings in five cities - Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, and Cologne.

The stars used a private plane, helicopter, and a car to get to each premiere where they walked the red carpet, signed autographs, and gave a talk to the audience.

[2] The musical landscape of this film is somewhat barren with very thin textures, often playing up the silence as a parallel to the quiet, isolated nature of main character Karl.

Schipper specifically chose to use the music from the English band Gravenhurst because of their unique sound which is “a bit like Morriessey, sad, but still rocking.”[5] Also used in the score for this film is the Lieder by Mahler, “ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen” (I am lost to the world).

Variety, while praising one scene between Daniel Brühl and Sabine Timoteo, said "the otherwise mundane script fails to make any genuinely insightful inroads into character.

"[2] Spiegel Online called it "a beautiful film about young people, a poetic love story and a delicious comedy about car fetishism".

[1] As for the audiences’ critical reception of the film, the average users of the movie-rating website known as Rotten Tomatoes by Flixster positively rated A Friend of Mine (Ein Freund von mir) a 74%, critically suggesting that although it was an amusing, “quirky movie about an unlikely friendship between a social misfit and a social conformist, [there was] no real message to the film”.

A review written by registered user positively opinionated and suggested that “the movie is almost entirely devoted to showing the development of their friendship and the numerous tests it has to pass.