Mercy (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | mercy |
| Original title | Kvinden i buret |
| Country of production | Denmark |
| original language | Danish , Swedish |
| Publishing year | 2013 |
| length | 97 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Mikkel Nørgaard |
| script | Jussi Adler-Olsen (book), Nikolaj Arcel |
| production |
Peter Aalbæk Jensen Louise Vesth |
| music |
Patrik Andrén Uno Helmersson Johan Söderqvist |
| camera | Eric Kress |
| cut |
Morten Egholm Martin What a shame |
| occupation | |
| |
Mercy (in the Danish original: Kvinden i buret , literally: "The woman in the cage") is a Danish thriller by the director Mikkel Nørgaard from 2013 based on the novel of the same name by Jussi Adler-Olsen . The film was shown for the first time in 2013 and was released in German cinemas on January 23, 2014.
action
After observing a barrack for a long time, Carl Mørck and his colleagues Anker and Hardy break into the building. There is an exchange of fire in which anchors are shot, Hardy is badly wounded and Mørck is shot. A year after the incident, Mørck reports back for duty. His boss, Marcus Jacobsen, offers him a position in the newly established Q department, which is supposed to prepare unresolved cases from the past for final filing. Mørck is assigned the Syrian-born Assad as an employee and on Mørck's first day at work Assad has already set up the rooms in the basement of the police building, put the files on shelves and pinned the most important documents of some cases on the wall.
Although Mørck's enthusiasm was initially limited, he chose the case of the charismatic politician Merete Lynggaard as the first case. The investigations under Mørck's colleague Børge Bak have shown that Merete is said to have thrown herself from a Baltic Sea ferry and committed suicide . Since Merete has been an orphan since a traffic accident and was accompanied on the trip by her disabled brother Uffe, Mørck does not believe in suicide and starts his own investigation.
Assad and Mørck visit Uffe in the sanatorium where he has lived since his sister disappeared. Since Uffe has not spoken since the car accident in which his and Merete's parents died, Mørck cannot reach him because of his impatient manner. However, Assad succeeds in gradually gaining Uffe's trust and when he shows Uffe photos of his sister and possible suspects, Uffe reacts very excitedly to one of the photos. The photo shows Merete in conversation with a participant in a conference who has registered under the name Daniel Hale. It turns out, however, that Hale disappeared while fishing and that his childhood friend from the children's home, "Lasse", took his place at the conference and thus met Merete. In a flashback you can see later that Lasse murdered Hale.
Embedded in the narrative thread of the investigation, there are several flashbacks in which Merete's fate is shown. She is first on the ferry and is kidnapped by a man in a dark raincoat. She later wakes up in a dark metal cave that turns out to be a pressure chamber . She can see two lights through armored glass windows and after a while bright lamps are switched on and a metallic voice tells her that the air pressure in the tube is gradually being increased. Food and a bucket for emergency supplies is brought to her daily through a pressure lock. One day Lasse shows up to her and accuses her of causing her parents' accident as a child and thus also the death of his father, which is why she must die.
In the meantime, Mørck and Assad have learned that Lasse and Hale lived in the same home as children. Lasse had already shown himself to be violent back then, his real name is Lars Jensen. His mother has been in a wheelchair since the traffic accident in which his father died . Here the two investigators discover the link to Merete's life: the cars of the Lynggaard and Jensen families were involved in a traffic accident in which not only Merete's and Uffe's parents, but also Lasse's father and sister died. Mørck's superior Jacobsen is not at all satisfied with the work of Department Q so far. Complaints about Mørck's behavior in the sanatorium and invoices for photo orders have been received. Mørck and Assad are suspended by their boss. However, they continue to investigate.
Ulla Jensen and her son live on a run-down farm that is the destination of a drive from Mørck and Assad. Mother Jensen claims her son is at sea where he works as a steward. The investigators search the farm anyway, in whose barn is the pressure chamber in which Merete is trapped. They are surprised by Lasse, who has just opened the valves of the chamber in order to cause Merete's death by the sudden drop in pressure . They take Lasse with them in their car. When driving from the farm, Mørck notices numerous fuel cans that are standing around. He concludes from this that the residents operate an electricity generator to hide the enormous energy consumption of the pressure chamber and orders Assad to turn the car. Lasse knocks Mørck down and stabs Assad in the stomach with a knife. He jumps out of the car and disappears into the barn. Investigators are now certain that Merete is being held captive on the farm. Although they are injured, they pursue Lasse into the barn. Mørck finds the pressure chamber and can see Merete through the panes of glass. He calls for reinforcements with his cell phone. He closes the valve through which the air escapes from the chamber, but is attacked from behind by Lasse, who tries to strangle him with a steel cable . Assad can save his boss at the last moment by knocking Lasse to the ground with an iron bar. Only half conscious Mørck registers that a helicopter is landing. Merete, Assad and he are taken to a hospital.
In the hospital, Merete is treated in a glass pressure chamber, Uffe is allowed to see her again after a long time. Due to the success, Jacobsen wants to bring Mørck back to the homicide department, but Mørck refuses and wants to continue working with Assad and a secretary in Department Q and open old cases.
Differences from the book
The plot of the film is clearly tightened compared to the book and differs from the original in numerous details, but the basic story remains the same. Among other things, the person of Morten does not appear as Mørck's roommate, as well as Lasse's disabled brother Hans Jensen, who was born in the car accident, and Dennis Knudsen, who was in the children's home with Lasse and caused the death of Daniel Hale. Daniel Hale was the former owner of the Jensen estate in the book version and dies in a staged car accident. In the film story he was Lasse's childhood friend and was thrown overboard and drowned by him while fishing with a blow to the head. In the book, Ulla Jensen is tasked with conducting most of the communication with the captured Merete, while in the film Lasse talks to her. The pressure in the book is also only increased after a year in the dark. One key difference is Assad's role in dealing with Uffe. While he builds trust in Uffe in the film, he only has to do with him peripherally in the book. The key scene in which Uffe recognizes the person in a picture that Assad has brought with him does not exist in the book; there Mørck Uffe only shows individual pictures while walking in the park.
In the showdown at the Jensen's estate, Lasse does not try to blow up the shed with the pressure chamber, as in the book, and is not killed in the explosion of the explosives. At the end of the film, the two investigators see Merete in a pressure chamber in the hospital, she smiles at her rescuer. In the book, Merete is put into an artificial coma after her rescue because her life is in danger. She had punctured her wrists in the pressure chamber so as not to die the way Lasse had intended her. After she wakes up, Uffe speaks for the first time since his parents' accidental death by pronouncing his sister's name. Merete answers in a whisper: "Thank you, Uffe."
background
Production and publication
At the Cannes International Film Festival in 2012 , the production company NFP acquired the rights to first film the completed thriller trilogy about Carl Mørck. A total of ten episodes are planned, which will be created in a European co-production by Zentropa and ZDF .
The world premiere took place on August 10, 2013 at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland. The film was released in theaters in Denmark on October 3, 2013. The German theatrical release of Mercy was originally scheduled for October 3, 2013, but was then postponed to January 23, 2014.
Staff and cast
The film was directed by Mikkel Nørgaard and produced by Peter Aalbæk Jensen and Louise Vesth . The screenwriter Nikolaj Arcel revised the novel by Jussi Adler-Olsen .
The roles of the two investigators Carl Mørck and Assad were taken on by the Danish actor Nikolaj Lie Kaas and the Lebanese-Swedish actor Fares Fares . Adler-Olsen's preferred candidate for the role of Carl Mørck would have been Peter Lohmeyer . Mikkel Boe Følsgaard played the mentally handicapped Uffe Lynggaard and Sonja Richter played his sister Merete.
criticism
Doris Kuhn praised the actors, the story, the tension and the logic of the film in the Süddeutsche Zeitung .
“Since the tension doesn't necessarily build up under time pressure, Norgaard has the opportunity to give his characters a real profile, and he relies on two very good actors: Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Fares Fares. The story is persistently and structured, just like these cops work - and so gradually the logic behind this kidnapping case is revealed, which seems as amazing as it is plausible. The pictures, nicely bathed in rainy blue, remind for a change that tension can also look good. "
Web links
- Mercy in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ erbarmen-derfilm.de: "erbarmen-derfilm.de: IN THE CINEMA FROM 23 JANUARY 2014!"
- ↑ Adler-Olsen's work on the special department Q is based on ten books, seven of which have so far been published. (As of December 2018)
- ^ Hannoversches Wochenblatt : Interview : Interview with Jussi Adler-Olsen , Hallo Sonntag, Clemens Niehaus, March 28, 2013
- ↑ Film releases : “Mercy”: bestseller crime thriller by Jussi Adler-Olsen is filmed , Tim Anton, June 11, 2012
- ↑ derwesten.de : Panorama: Jussi Adler-Olsen wants Peter Lohmeyer for a crime film adaptation , Stuttgart, dadp, January 23, 2013
- ^ Doris Kuhn: "Mercy" in the cinema. As amazing as it is obvious. In: Culture. Süddeutsche Zeitung, January 25, 2014, accessed on January 6, 2015 .