Behind Kaifeck
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Behind Kaifeck |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 2009 |
| length | 83 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Esther Gronenborn |
| script |
Sönke Lars Neuwöhner , Christian Limmer |
| production | Monika Raebel |
| music | Alexander Hoe |
| camera | Chris Valentien |
| cut |
Moune Barius , Dirk Grau |
| occupation | |
| |
The feature film Hinter Kaifeck is a mystery thriller from 2009 , which is based on the murder case in Hinterkaifeck in 1922. Benno Fürmann and Alexandra Maria Lara play the leading roles under the direction of Esther Gronenborn.
content
The opening credits show a little girl who comes through a forest to an apparently lonely homestead. Several murdered people are found in the stable, the Gruber family, a baby is crying in the background. A time jump into the present follows. The photographer Marc Barenberg is out and about in wintry Bavaria with his little son Tyll. In the village of Kaifeck he moves into a room with the young landlady Juliana Lukas. At dinner he notices the numerous black and white photos on the wall of the room, and he meets the landlady's frail grandmother. To his astonishment, she says to him: “I knew you were coming.” Already in the first night he was tormented by nightmares that lead him through a forest to a dilapidated farm. In the morning he is surprised to find that he slept in his clothes, which are noticeably soiled. At breakfast he discovers an old photograph of the courtyard.
During the course of the day he met various key people in the village, the pastor, Kramer, the doctor and the carpenter Kogler. When the pastor falls weak, he gives Marc a crucifix. Meanwhile, Tyll deals more and more intensively with the secrets of Epiphany Night and the mysterious Perchten . Marc and Juliana get closer. Another night full of nightmares follows for Marc, in which he follows a mysterious woman in a red coat and witnesses the murder. In the morning the photograph of the courtyard has disappeared and Juliana's mother, who is sitting in a wheelchair, does not want to remember the picture.
Nevertheless, Marc and Tyll find the dilapidated courtyard on a walk, and Marc is tormented by visions. Tyll finds a strangely shaped stone in a well. Juliana's grandmother visits the grave of the murdered court residents and remembers the events of her childhood. Another night goes by with Marc's nightmares and the for him certain realization that he is sleepwalking: He has a bleeding head injury in the morning.
In a conversation with the village doctor, the alleged stone turns out to be a skull bone of unknown origin. Meanwhile, preparations for Epiphany Night are in full swing in the village. Juliana informs Marc about the events at the Gruberhof 80 years ago; he learns about the murder for the first time. Shaken, he first visits the Gruber's grave, then the farm and again has visions of what happened back then and the incest relationship between the Gruber farmer and his daughter. The Perchten and the woman in red also play a role.
While Marc visits the pastor again, Juliana's grandmother is dying. There is an argument between Juliana and her mother. In the evening Marc has another conversation with Juliana. Like the pastor, she denies the existence of a baby on the Gruberhof. There is a dispute about it. But now Juliana doubts herself and follows up on the clues by sneaking into the house of the strange shopkeeper, Gäbler. Meanwhile, Marc digs up the skulls of the murdered in the yard, and Juliana discovers old documents that open her eyes. In the morning Marc wakes up at a gloomy lake in the forest.
Back in the village, Juliana's grandmother clarifies the truth to him and dies. He decides to leave the village immediately. The Perchten are now up to mischief in the village, including Kogler. Marc and Tyll are already sitting in the car when Marc drives to the cemetery again. There he meets the woman in the red coat. Then Tyll is kidnapped by two Perchten and Marc is attacked. In the fight he kills the disguised Kramer Gäbler. Marc rushes to the Gruberhof, where the villagers, disguised as Perchten, dance around a fire, and frees Tyll from the hands of the carpenter Kogler with the help of Juliana, who also appears there. Juliana helps Marc and is badly injured with a pitchfork by one of the villagers who uses the word "traitor". You still manage to kill Kogler with a torch. They flee back to Marc's car, but Juliana - seriously injured - refuses to flee. Marc and his son manage to escape while Juliana collapses.
Style and implementation
The film is kept in cold, bluish colors throughout. The film was shot at various locations between Passau and Simbach. The forest scenes were created on a former military site near Jena.
The director Esther Gronenborn explains that an exact reconstruction of the crime is not intended, but rather the fictional representation is in the foreground: "We dealt with the case freely, tried to grasp it more emotionally, and in the process alienated some facts."
It was released on March 12, 2009. The DVD was released on October 16, 2009 .
Also in 2009 was the film Tannöd , which dealt with the same topic.
Reviews
“Dream, reality and the actual murders of Hinterkaifeck combine to create a mystery thriller that begins oppressively, but increasingly suffers from the multitude of its motifs and soon only varies familiar genre patterns. The actors are also unable to convince with their stiff play. "
“The film is strong as long as it remains suspended where reality ends and nightmares begin. The action-packed finale is more reminiscent of the bumpy resolution of a crime scene . Ambivalent. "
“Nothing is right in Hinter Kaifeck : neither the illogical story with its leaps in time, nor the design, neither the acting nor the play of the two popular main actors. A pure DVD start would have been more advantageous for everyone involved. A German auteur film has not been that bad for a long time. "
Web links
- Behind Kaifeck in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mysterious murder 1922 Secret about a seventh corpse in: Süddeutsche Zeitung of March 11, 2009
- ↑ a b press booklet for the film
- ^ Behind Kaifeck in the Lexicon of International Films
- ↑ Christian Schröder: In the realm of nightmares Der Tagesspiegel of March 12, 2009
- ^ Jörg Taszman: Behind Kaifeck Deutschlandradio Kultur, March 11, 2009