Ein Prachtexemplar(1989)

Ein Prachtexemplar is a German comedy-drama about professional ambition and wounded pride. Dr. Dieter Bartels, a promising surgical resident, buys a Jugendstil vase as a gift for his chief's 60th birthday, hoping to impress. When the chief reveals he's already purchased an identical—and far more expensive—piece, Bartels becomes the unwitting target of public humiliation. Seeking revenge, the chief systematically destroys Bartels's surgical career, forcing him to resign in defeat. What follows is a darkly comic tale of one man's descent from hospital golden boy to outcast, driven by a single moment of social miscalculation and the chief's refusal to forgive.