The perfect crime

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Movie
German title The perfect crime
Original title Fracture
Country of production USA , Germany
original language English
Publishing year 2007
length 112 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
JMK 12
Rod
Director Gregory Hoblit
script Glenn Gers ,
Daniel Pyne
production Charles Weinstock
music Jeff Danna ,
Mychael Danna
camera Kramer Morgenthau
cut David Rosenbloom
occupation
synchronization

The perfect crime is a US-American -German thriller by Gregory Hoblit from the year 2007 .

action

Ted Crawford, an elderly Irish-born aircraft manufacturing entrepreneur, finds out that his young wife Jennifer is cheating on him with cop Rob Nunally . He devises a plan to get revenge on both of them. After finding out anonymously about Nunally's roster, he confronts Jennifer in the shared house and shoots her in the head. Then he manipulates the crime scene, burns his clothes and cleans his arms from traces of smoke. When the gardeners working on the property knock on the front door because of the sound of the gunshots, he scares them away with untargeted shots. The alarmed police assume a hostage situation in the house and Nunally, who is responsible for such negotiations, is called in. He enters the house alone and accepts Crawford's suggestion that they both put their guns down so they can talk about the situation. When Nunally, who did not know Jennifer's family name, recognizes the victim lying in a pool of blood as his lover, he attacks Crawford heavily and punches him several times. A SWAT squad enters the house, subdues Nunally and arrests Crawford. Signs of life are detected in Jennifer and she survives in a comatose state .

After Nunally takes on Crawford's confession, ambitious young prosecutor Willy Beachum takes over the case and charges Crawford with attempted murder. A game develops between Beachum and Crawford, who defends himself and in which practically everything that speaks against Crawford is devalued:

  • During the trial , Jennifer and Nunally's affair comes to the fore, leaving Nunally the prime witness.
  • The confession cannot be used due to the attack by Nunally against Crawford as "the fruit of the poisoned tree ".
  • The weapon found at Crawford is not the murder weapon .

The prosecution has no evidence against Crawford.

Beachum, who just wanted to move to the successful law firm Wooton & Simms, is under pressure and sees his career in danger. He is also having an affair with his future boss and is on the verge of not being accepted into the firm. Nunally, who fears that Crawford will be acquitted, subsequently forges evidence by hiding a gun in Crawford's garden and having the cartridge cases replaced by a colleague in the evidence room . However, Beachum does not agree to such a possible solution to the case.

After Crawford is acquitted for lack of evidence , Nunally shoots himself in the courthouse. Beachum tries unsuccessfully to use a court order to prevent Crawford from turning off the life support devices for his comatose wife. The perfect crime - "eliminating" two people without conviction - seems to have succeeded.

Beachum remains convinced that Crawford is the culprit, and finds himself so challenged by the case that he is ready to pursue it even at the expense of his planned legal career. Finally, by chance, he comes across the connections why Crawford's weapon was not the murder weapon: Crawford's weapon was of exactly the same design as that of the policeman Nunally. Shortly before the crime, Crawford had broken into Nunally's hotel room to exchange his pistol for the policeman's. The policeman's weapon thus became a murder weapon. Shortly before his arrest, when both had dropped their guns, Crawford had switched weapons again, so that only one gun was found at the scene that had never been fired from.

Beachum visits Crawford at his house and confronts him. Crawford triumphantly confirmed to Beachum the sequence of events he had reconstructed. Beachum explains to Crawford that he can now prove the act, since after Jennifer's death he was able to secure the bullet that was in her skull and assign it to the weapon.

Crawford is unimpressed, as he feels protected by the legal principle Ne bis in idem (USA: “Double Jeopardy” , so no second charge for the same offense). Only when Beachum him opened, that while he no longer murder versuchs - like the first trial - can be charged, but certainly - that he left turn off the life support of his wife - now due to consummate the murder , he realizes that the matter legally is not over yet.

The film ends in the courtroom where Beachum reads out the indictment against Crawford. Crawford is represented by lawyers from Wooton & Simms law firm. The end of the process remains open.

criticism

James Berardinelli wrote on ReelViews that the film “bombards” - in contrast to “other mystery thrillers” - does not “bombard” the audience with constant twists and turns. He looks like a game of chess between the two main characters. His end is "weak". The film would look like a "B-Movie" with poor actors. But Anthony Hopkins gives the character he plays "psychotic genius" and "impressive presence".

Sascha Westphal wrote in Die Welt that the duel between the two main characters "goes far beyond typical genre conventions". Behind the conventions of the genre, the film conceals “a classic drama with an ancient stamp”.

The lexicon of the international film judged: "Well constructed, excellently cast thriller, the familiar genre patterns entertaining and solidly prepared."

background

The film was shot at Warner Brothers Burbank Studios and in Los Angeles . Filming began on February 11, 2006. It had its world premiere in the USA on April 11, 2007, and on April 12, 2007 it was presented at the Phoenix Film Festival . Its theatrical release in Germany took place on May 17, 2007. The film grossed over 39 million US dollars in cinemas in the USA by July 22, 2007 , of which over 11 million US dollars on the opening weekend alone. Almost 470,000 viewers were counted at the German box office.

"The Perfect Crime" was New Line Cinema and Castle Rock Entertainment's first joint production since the mid-1990s, after both film production companies were bought by Ted Turner in the meantime . George Clooney has since been traded as a possible director.

The structures on which the glass marbles roll were designed by the Dutch artist Mark Bischof . The sports car Ted Crawford drives is a Porsche Carrera GT valued at around US $ 670,000, which was discontinued in April 2006, consisting of more than 1,270 handcrafted components.

Many of the names given in the film refer to members of the production team. The judges Eads and Vacarro bear the surnames of the production designer and the set designer. The cases "People vs. Morgenthau ”,“ People vs. Beaupre ”and“ Bonaventura ”are the surnames of Kramer Morgenthau , who is responsible for the camera , of the second assistant director Steven F. Beaupre and Tony Bonaventura from the prop.

Nominations and Awards

Ryan Gosling was nominated for the 2007 Teen Choice Award for Best Actor in the Horror / Thriller category. In the same year, Mychael Danna received a nomination for the World Soundtrack Award for best film composer of the year.

synchronization

The film was dubbed by FFS Film- & Fernseh-Synchron GmbH, Berlin. Dialogue direction was directed by David Nathan , the dialogue book is by Klaus Bickert .

figure actor Voice actor
Ted Crawford Anthony Hopkins Joachim Kerzel
Willy Beachum Ryan Gosling David Nathan
Joe Lobruto David Strathairn Reinhard Kuhnert
Nikki Gardner Rosamund Pike Ranja Bonalana
Jennifer Crawford Embeth Davidtz Arianne Borbach
Robert Nunally Billy Burke Bernd Vollbrecht
Detective Flores Cliff Curtis Charles Rettinghaus
Judge Robinson Fiona Shaw Karin Buchholz
Judge Gardner Bob Gunton Lutz Riedel
Norman Foster Josh Stamberg Axel Malzacher
Mona Zoe Kazan Isabelle Schmidt
Judge Joseph Pincus Joe Spano Werner Ziebig

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Certificate of Release for The Perfect Crime . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , May 2007 (PDF; test number: 110 054 K).
  2. ↑ Age rating for The Perfect Crime . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ↑ Production countries according to the Internet Movie Database
  4. ↑ James Berardinelli: Fracture (United States, 2007) A movie review by James Berardinelli. Retrieved February 22, 2018 .
  5. ^ Sascha Westphal: film review , Die Welt , May 15, 2007
  6. ↑ The perfect crime. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed June 7, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  7. ↑ Locations according to the Internet Movie Database
  8. ↑ a b c Budget and box office results according to the Internet Movie Database
  9. ↑ a b Start dates according to the Internet Movie Database
  10. ↑ a b c d e f Background information according to the Internet Movie Database
  11. ↑ a b Nominations and awards according to the Internet Movie Database
  12. ↑ dubbing , German dubbing index

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