Is this the inspiration for 'Goodbye Lenin'?

The trivia section of the IMDb page on "Goodbye Lenin!" says this:

The story is loosely based on the last two years of V.I. Lenin's life, living in a controlled environment similar to what is portrayed in the film. With the justification that over-excitement might cause Lenin health problems, Joseph Stalin had printed for him one-copy edition newspapers, censored of all news about the political struggles of the time.

This is very close to what happens in "Goodbye Lenin!," and it adds a new level of irony to a film that is full of irony.

It is certainly possible that "Hibernatus" was one source. Since I've not had the opportunity to see it, I cannot tell if the plots are developed in at all similar ways. In "Goodbye Lenin!," the control of the mother's reality is used for ironic political commentary on the DDR and not primarily for comedy.

The question of influences tends to be murky. The idea of controlling the "reality" that a person experiences is definitely around. The movie "36 Hours," from 1965, uses it. I believe that I've run across other examples, but I cannot come up with the titles.

The idea of controlling a person's "reality" has been around for a very long time. Shakespeare used it in the framing story for "The Taming Of The Shrew," and it was not original then. I am told that there is a story in "One Thousand and One Nights" that uses it.

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