The Killer (1979)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The killer |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1979 |
| length | 107 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Ottokar Runze |
| script | Ottokar Runze |
| production | Ottokar Runze |
| music | Hans-Martin Majewski |
| camera | Michael Epp |
| cut | Inge P. Drestler |
| occupation | |
| |
The murderer is a German feature film from 1979 by Ottokar Runze . The title role is played by Gerhard Olschewski , with Marius Müller-Westernhagen and Johanna Liebeneiner taking on other leading roles . The story is based on the detective novel L'assassin by Georges Simenon .
action
Dr. Hans Kuperus works as a resident doctor in the Netherlands. He is a well-respected citizen of the city, and yet he suffers badly from a private problem: his wife is cheating on him by the line and thread. For a long time he watched their hustle and bustle, for a long time tolerated a lover who was well known in the city to put horns on him. One day the doctor has enough: he lies in wait for the two of them in their love nest and shoots the unfaithful wife and Galan. Even though he planned the crime perfectly, Dr. Kuperus firmly with his imminent arrest. But surprisingly it does not happen. Although the neighbors suspect that only he could have shot his wife and her lover, he remains unmolested. Kuperus had thrown the bodies into the now frozen canal, and none of his fellow citizens wants to know more. Soon a new woman will enter the doctor's life. It's the new maid, Neel. The somewhat simple but lascivious woman has done it to Kuperus, and although she does not share his desires, she lets herself into him. But Neel has a secret: a man named Karl Vorberg, a German, has lived with Neel for over a year and considers himself her friend and lover.
Time passes and soon the murder seems to be forgotten. Kuperus believes he can go back to his old life. When the canal thaws, the bodies are released, and yet there is no consequence for the killer. Nobody in town blames him, in the eyes of the silent general public he is the deceived husband for whom one must understand, perhaps even pity. Kuperus now feels all too safe: he is applying to chair the billiards academy and is considering becoming a politician. His aggressive behavior, forgetting all modesty, begins to meet with incomprehension and rejection from his fellow citizens in view of the severity of his guilt. The silence grows rejection and gradual social isolation. Even his new life partner Neel, who is viewed as ordinary, is not accepted by the hypocritical bourgeoisie. Friends make it clear to Kuperus that it would be best for him to get out of town temporarily. But Kuperus believes he is strong enough to withstand this advice - especially since there is no evidence of his guilt. But he has overstimulated his paper, people avoid him and patients stay away too. Dr. Hans Kuperus gradually becomes a drinker in his loneliness. One day he receives a summons to see the examining magistrate, an old school friend. When the latter demonstratively refuses to shake his hand in greeting, Dr. Kuperus that the time of his sparing is over.
Production notes
The murderer , a film-television production, was shot on 29 days between December 4, 1978 and January 18, 1979 and was presented for the first time on September 23, 1979 as part of the Hamburg Film Festival. The film was shot in Apeldoorn , Edam and Amsterdam (all of the Netherlands).
Olschewski and Müller-Westernhagen had already been film partners in a Runze production three years earlier: Lost Life .
Reviews
“It's not easy to portray a person's isolation on film. Ottokar Runze succeeds. by letting his main actor Gerhard Olschewski act as if under a glass cover. He does not focus so much on the small town dwellers, who are withdrawing more and more from the 'murderer' and freezing him, than the reaction of this man to their behavior. The result was a screen chamber play that was nevertheless very dense, albeit at times somewhat brittle, not least due to the intensive playing of Gerhard Olschewski and Johanna Liebeneiner.
"... decent movie ..."
"A psychological crime game of unusual moral seriousness and formal care, which impresses above all with the excellent performance of the main actor."
“The following productions varied Runze's interest in the subjects of justice, crime and the people involved. His recurring motif was the confrontation with guilt and atonement, with the culpable entanglement of the individual in the context of his environment, society. Runze tried to uncover social backgrounds that provided information on the behavioral patterns of his protagonists. Again and again, the psychologization of the culpably entangled main characters was the focus of Runze's interest - so the director, whose in-depth productions moved further and further away from simply entertaining mainstream entertainment patterns in the course of the 1970s, gradually developed into the German André Cayatte . Above all, his two main actors Gerhard Olschewski and Marius Müller-Westernhagen (stars in 'Verlorenes Leben' and 'Der Mörder') made for an enjoyable acting. "
Web links
- The killer in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The killer at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ^ German Institute for Film Studies (Ed.): German Films 1979, compiled by Rüdiger Koschnitzki. P. 183
- ^ The murderer in the lexicon of international films