Family on trial
| Episode of the Spring Series | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Original title | Family on trial | ||
 | |||
| Country of production | Germany | ||
| original language | German | ||
| Production company |
UFA fiction | ||
| length | 90 minutes | ||
| Age rating | FSK 6 | ||
| classification | Episode 19 ( List ) | ||
| German-language first broadcast |
February 3, 2019 on ZDF | ||
| Rod | |||
| Director | Michael Karen | ||
| script |
Natalie Scharf Leif Alexis |
||
| production | Natalie Sharp | ||
| music |
Siggi Müller Sebastian Haßler |
||
| camera | Florian Schilling | ||
| cut | Moune Barius | ||
| occupation | |||
| |||
| chronology | |||
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Familie auf Probe is a German television film from the spring film series by Michael Karen , which was first broadcast on ZDF on February 3, 2019 .
The film tells the story of the village helper Katja Baumann, played by Simone Thomalla , who supports families in emergency situations and at the same time tries to bring spring into people's hearts. It is the 19th film in a series that focuses on the people of the village called Spring .
action
On a class trip to church in spring, eight-year-old Liam Mehdamm learns that a clergyman has to keep secrets to himself. The boy uses this to confide in Pastor Sonnleitner that his four-year-old brother would hurt him very often. The child looks very depressed, but since the pastor is bound by the confessional secret, he asks the village helper Katja to take a look around at Liam's family. At first glance, it looks very neat there. Nevertheless, Katja reports to the boys' father that she had observed how Liam was treated very unpleasantly by Toni. Toni pretends that this would have been just a game and Liam does not reveal the real facts either. Since Katja cannot do anything against the very dominant father, who also protects his older son, she secretly leaves Liam with her business card. When the father takes out his frustration on his wife, Liam dares to take the brave step of calling Katja. He asks her to come because his mother allegedly fell off her bike and needs help. The parents are a little embarrassed to accept help, but since Liam's father is a pilot and has to leave for two days, they accept their presence. Katja sees at first glance that Anna Mehdamms' injuries do not come from a bicycle accident, but from blows. Thus, the violence between the parents is transferred to the children and is the reason for Toni's aggression towards his little brother. To break the vicious circle, she advises the desperate mother to break up with her husband. But the decision is not easy, especially since Toni admires his father and Liam is now afraid of being tortured even more by his brother. Katja has no doubts that Liam's mother still loves her husband, but she has to change something for the good of the children. First she tries to talk to her sons and takes them and Katja to a child psychologist. In doing so, she becomes aware of how much her children suffer from the domestic violence of their father. This helps her make the decision to leave her husband's house with the children. Katja also quickly has a temporary solution to the housing problem, because an old shepherd who is currently in the hospital can use help on his farm. He's been there all alone since his wife's death and Katja has been looking after the flock of sheep for some time, which the family could now take over. There is also enough space on the homestead and, after initial skepticism, the children even enjoy the simple, natural life. They enjoy being able to live without fear and finally seeing their mother laugh again. When Liam's father comes home and finds the apartment abandoned, he is initially irritated, but then extremely angry. He threatens his wife over the phone and announces that he will take the children away from her. Katja tries to calm her down, which she only succeeds slightly. Rainer Mehdamm is meanwhile on the way to school, where he intercepts Toni and simply takes him with him. But Toni refuses to stay with him because he never wants to be like his father. That hits his father after all and he realizes that he too has to change something if he doesn't want to lose his children completely. He takes the boy to his new home and then drives away without a word. Toni thanks Katja at the end for being there for her.
background
The episode was produced by ZDF in collaboration with “Seven Dogs Filmproduktion” and UFA Fiction and broadcast as part of the ZDF “Herzkino” series. The shooting took place from May 15 to July 12, 2018.
reception
Audience ratings
When it was first broadcast on February 3, 2019, Familie on trial in Germany was seen by 5.24 million viewers, which corresponded to a market share of 14.2 percent.
criticism
Rainer Tittelbach from tittelbach.tv said: Family on trial is “an exceptionally dense family drama that does not fuel external conflicts as it did in the 'Spring' series, but pushes the characters to an 'inner' solution.” “What the plot As far as is concerned, 'family on trial' is at least a 'heart cinema' on a 'psychology today' level - and this light-footed drama is also convincing in terms of film. The camera often moves closer to the characters, the car journeys are not designed as conventionally as they used to be - also when it comes to the use of pop songs. "
The critics of the TV magazine TV Spielfilm gave this episode a "thumbs straight". They judged: “Domestic violence and battered children's souls are the big themes in this honestly but predictably told episode. Sweet sheep and two funny, homeless lamas buffer the drama in the secondary narrative line. ”Conclusion:“ Soul cement for the cracks in the ideal world. ”
Julian Miller fromquotemeter.de was not very positive and wrote: “The approach of this film is a sincere one: to get the audience with their real problems where they actually are. But instead of taking them by the hand through all the difficulties, this film leaves them standing in the rain. If instead the case had succeeded in resolving the conflict over the broken family in a meaningful, realistic manner, one could have overlooked the pompous elements of 'family on trial': the penetrating sweetness of the children's characters, the exaggerated kindness of the old pastor, the strange notion that in simple peasant life there is salvation from everything. "
Web links
- Family on trial in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Family on trial at Fernsehserien.de
- Family on trial at crew united
Individual evidence
- ^ Family on probation at crew united , accessed on January 7, 2020.
- ↑ a b Rainer Tittelbach: Thomalla, do Rego, Girnth, Ferkic, Scharf, Karen / Regel. A bit like coming home film review at tittelbach.tv, accessed on January 7, 2020.
- ↑ Film review at tvspielfilm.de, accessed on January 7, 2020.
- ↑ Julian Miller: criticism of the film at Quotenmeter.de , accessed on 7 January 2020th