is hans a real person ?

contains spoiler



When I watched the movie, I thought, the whole story could be understood as follows: Hans is only an imagined (like in freudian theory a wish-fulfilling dream) persona, that combines all the attitudes and possibilities that Karls super-ego supresses. It works with the movie, because Hans keeps on running Karl into "situations" but is always absent, when the challenging situations inculde other persons (which could not see Hans, because he is just imaginary, anyway). The only character that seems to notice, that Karl has an imaginary friend, is Stelle (cause she's his soulmate). The whole kissing situation would have been almost the same, if Hans was absent.
After a while Karl takes Hans so much for real - the inner conflict becomes unbearable - that he explains to his ego-mirror-imaginary friend, why he cannot be like him (the weakness of his own life-concept of supressing his impulses turns obvious and becomes out-spoken in a literally, curing sense), or be his friend any longer.
Even though Hans seems embarrassed in the first place, Karl has to live up to the fact, that when they meet again, Hans is not mad at him. Hans is merely surprised, that Karl does not quite seem to have learned his lesson, despite the fact, he had cured himself by defining his trauma before. Hans leaves Karl (thinking) back alone with the sportscar he legally rented for his friend. Their friendship is about what karl does with his life, about Karl changing his life, and not about the super-ego buying weird things for the supressed ego, so that the ego thinks, it is free...
Hans has to do one last thing to help his creator out of the psychotic nighthmare Karl is in: Asked to come with Karl on his ride back into "normal" reality, he is repeating one of Karls jokes (the boat-honking wish-situation) and makes him visit Stelle in Barcelona alone: For one last time Hans does, what seems to be the essential rule of his Happyness: He cannot come with Karl in a real way, since he is not real. But as imaginary friend he is part of Karl anywhere anytime anyway. The choice he offers Karl is "double possible" and therefore impossible. He still performs it (the honking) and obeys the games rules (there has to be a honking, though it is faked, the rules of the game are fulfilled and the honking counts). With this ritual, the decision to go to Stelle (that was allready made), is turned into something magic and genious. it is done in total harmony with the entire being.
(One of the last scenes in the movie, when Karl screams in the car on the nightride to Barcelona, one cannot see, if theres is somebody on the right frontseat.)