The final problem (movie)

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Movie
Original title The last problem
Country of production Austria
original language German
Publishing year 2019
length 90 minutes
Rod
Director Karl Markovics
script Daniel Kehlmann
production John Lueftner ,
David Schalko
music Herbert Tucmandl
camera Leena Koppe
cut Alarich Lenz
occupation
chronology

←  Predecessor
Steirerkreuz

The last problem is an Austrian television film from the country crime film series from 2019 by Karl Markovics with Markovics and Stefan Pohl in the leading roles. The film was released on DVD on December 13, 2019 . The first broadcast on ORF took place on January 7 , 2020. The film was shown for the first time on January 31, 2020 on Arte . After Alles Fleisch ist Gras (2014), this is the second country thriller from Vorarlberg .

action

In the holiday hotel Edelweiß, which is snowed in and cut off from the environment, the chambermaid Lise Nader found the corpse of hotel guest Albert Hefenstein, a marine biologist, in a room that was locked from the inside. He was stabbed with a knife. The hotel director Beate Riegler would like to sweep the matter under the rug as far as possible, but the entire hotel will know shortly. Among the hotel guests there is Jonas Horak, who claims to be a detective from the criminal investigation department in Vienna and who is investigating Friday with his assistant. They question all guests and employees, including hotel director Riegler and her brother Franz, who is a silent partner in the hotel. They give each other an alibi for the time of the crime.

Horak suspects Mr. Marxer of the murder because he was the only hotel guest who tried to get into the valley on foot, but had to turn back due to the snow storm. He has already served in prison. Marxer claims to have spent the night of the crime with Karin Sessler, a widowed former Swiss director of the Sessler und Sessler bank and a regular at the hotel. Horak learns from Sessler that the hotel is heavily in debt. Finally, a second hotel guest, Sessler, is murdered, and the maid finds the body again in a locked room. When Horak asked about the two victims, Natalie Riegler, daughter of the hotel manager, told him that she was not interested in the guests and the hotel and that she did not want to take it over.

While Horak and Freitag continue to investigate, policewoman Sophie Landner comes from the village with snowshoes. When the village police officer asks Horak for his ID, he says that he does not have it with him. Landner says she was notified by phone of the first murder case the day before at 4:50 pm, but because of the avalanche danger, she was only able to get on the following day. According to Horak, the first victim was still alive at this time. Because of the snowstorm, the internet and telephone connections had already been interrupted for half an hour. He therefore suspects a joke call. When asked how it is possible that the rooms were locked from the inside in both cases, the hotel manager explains that it is possible to exit via the balcony door, which locks itself from the outside after closing. The murderer therefore fled through the balcony door.

Horak first tells police officer Landner that he works for the Federal Criminal Police Office in Vienna and that he is spending his vacation here. Because of their skeptical inquiries, he later revised his statement and stated that he was in early retirement for health reasons. Landner then asks him about the pills she found in his room. When Landner tries to take the room key from him so that he can rest and she can make sure that he is not disturbed, he overpowers her, gags her and handcuffs her. He takes the service weapon from her and gives it on Friday.

After all hotel guests and employees have gathered in the lobby, Horak declares that he will resolve the cases. The murder weapon, a knife, was hidden in the first victim's room after it had already been searched by him and Friday. According to Horak, the first victim could have had an account with the bank that ran the second victim and where the hotel manager is deeply in debt. Horak is of the opinion that none of this could be a coincidence and that Franz Riegler is covering his sister.

Meanwhile, Landner manages to free himself after Horak and Friday did not take the keys for the handcuffs and Friday left the gun lying around. It is becoming increasingly clear that Friday only exists in Horak's mind. Horak is arrested by Landner with the help of the caretaker Schwingenschlögel and handcuffed to the bed. When he wakes up again, Friday explains to him that Horak has solved the case. Accordingly, the perpetrator himself alerted the police before the first murder. Horak no longer understands the world, he says he neither knows who the perpetrator was nor why he is handcuffed to the bed. On Friday Horak confessed to having committed the two murders, but Horak found out about him. The last problem to solve would be Friday room number. If he knew why he didn't know this, the last problem would be solved. He hands Horak tablets, which Horak takes. Landner joins them, takes them away from him and makes sure that Horak vomits up the tablets he has already swallowed. In response to Horak's question about Friday, Landner (who naturally doesn't know anything about Friday) replied that it was only Thursday.

After the snowstorm has ended, all hotel guests leave. Horak asks Landner to arrest Friday because he confessed to everything. Friday would stand next to him, although no one is in sight. Landner explains to Horak that his car is waiting for Vienna and that it has been put back into service. Horak is escorted to a waiting patrol car and taken away by the police.

production

The shooting took place from November 12th to December 13th 2018 in Vorarlberg , location was Zürs . The film was produced by Superfilm , Austrian broadcasting and Arte were involved, and the production was supported by the state of Vorarlberg .

Caterina Czepek was responsible for the costume design, Andreas Sobotka for the production design and Alarich Lenz for the editing .

Stefan Pohl played Tobias Moretti's assistant in the Viennese crime thriller Achterbahn , and in The Last Problem he is the assistant to the investigator played by Karl Markovics . Daniel Kehlmann was responsible for an original script for the first time.

reception

Karl Gedlicka wrote on DerStandard.at that the film, which begins as a classic Whodunit , is convincing right through to the end. The film repeatedly steers towards the obvious, only to drive off the track at a profit. In any case, one would hear the chanson La Mer with completely different ears in the future after this “delight among the country thrillers”. Horak remembered Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot , Horak's Friday assistant to Watson .

Volker Bergmeister described the film on tittelbach.tv as a “tricky crime chamber play” and wrote: “What begins as a Whodunit crime thriller that awakens memories of great Agatha Christie killer puzzles becomes a weird mix of crime comedy and schizo drama with grotesque -excessive situations, a dash of irony, a lot of atmosphere and plenty of tension. "

The first broadcast on ORF on January 7, 2020 was followed by up to 822,000 and an average of 788,000 viewers, the market share was 24 percent.

Awards and nominations

Romy Awards 2020

  • Award in the category Best Image Creation TV Fiction ( Leena Koppe )
  • Nomination in the category Best Book TV Fiction ( Daniel Kehlmann )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ ORF crime thriller from town and country. In: ORF.at . Retrieved December 9, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b ORF country thriller “The Last Problem”. In: ORF.at . December 7, 2019, accessed December 7, 2019 .
  3. ^ A b Volker Bergmeister : TV film "The last problem". In: tittelbach.tv . Retrieved January 24, 2020 .
  4. ↑ The last problem with crew united . Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  5. ^ A b Daniel Kehlmann: Screenplay debut in Vorarlberger ORF country crime thriller "The Last Problem". November 15, 2018, accessed December 8, 2019 .
  6. ^ Country thriller from Vorarlberg: Poirot and Watson in the Hotel Edelweiss. In: DerStandard.at . January 6, 2020, accessed January 8, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Successful ORF country crime season with a total of 2.1 million viewers. January 8, 2020, accessed January 8, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Christoph Silber: ROMY Academy selects winners: androids, underworlders and drug dealers. In: Kurier.at . May 19, 2020, accessed May 19, 2020 .
  9. ↑ ROMY Academy Awards: The playing field for experts. In: Kurier.at . March 11, 2020, accessed March 11, 2020 .