Lonely Hearts Killers

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Movie
German title Lonely Hearts Killers
Original title Lonely Hearts
Country of production United States ,
Germany
original language English
Publishing year 2006
length 108 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Todd Robinson
script Todd Robinson
production Boaz Davidson ,
Holly Wiersma
music Mychael Danna
camera Mark Kohl ,
Peter Levy
cut Kathryn Himoff
occupation

Lonely Hearts is a thriller from director Todd Robinson from the year 2006 .

action

Late 1940s: Police officers Elmer C. Robinson and Charles Hildebrandt are called to the apartment of a young woman who has cut her wrists. Robinson, who blames himself for his wife's suicide, sees the opportunity to make amends. Although everything looks like suicide, he realizes that something is wrong and continues to investigate against the will of his colleague.

This is how he quickly finds out about the marriage swindler Raymond Fernandez Martinez, who drives women out of their money who reply to personals in magazines. When Martinez meets the nurse Martha Beck, murder comes into play. Disguised as brother and sister, they now cheat the lonely women together. Since Martha wants Ray all to herself, she jealously kills one of the women, Janet, while making love with him. After the bloody act, Martha demonstrates her power over Ray while Janet lies dying on the floor. So she shows more and more of her cold-blooded nature, initially lets Janet's body disappear and tries to cover up the traces of the crime. Although the police track down the couple, they find the house too late, Ray and Martha have disappeared again. Janet's body cannot be found at first, but the investigators find traces of blood under the floorboards.

Ray falls for Martha more and more and also begins to murder: After an internal conflict with himself and an argument with Martha, he shoots Delphine, a single mother who has also responded to the personals. Martha had previously wanted to poison the young woman, because Delphine confided in Martha and told her that she was pregnant by Ray. When Ray Kalk arranges for the body to be disposed of, he shoots a police officer who identifies him as a wanted criminal. In doing so, however, he leaves traces.

Martha had told Ray that she wanted to have children and that she was longing for a "normal" life. Now both are trying to match a normal family. Martha wants to win over the little daughter of the murdered woman. However, she refuses to love Martha and recognize her as her mother. That is how the little girl must die too.

For Robinson and Hildebrandt it is getting easier and easier to follow the blood trail of the cruel couple, as Martha and Ray are becoming more and more careless. Eventually they both pick up at Delphine's house. The couple who just wanted to disappear again are arrested. Robinson discovers the child's body in the trunk of the tricycle that Martha and Ray had previously bought for it. Janet and Delphine's bodies can also be found. Janet's body in the coal cellar, Delphine's bones set in concrete in the shed.

During interrogation, Martha states that she and Ray did everything together and tells Robinson that Ray belongs to her, that is why he committed the murders out of love and that is why they will die together. In the end, the two of them are executed on the electric chair. While Ray is crying and struggling, Martha takes the judgment calmly and notices, as she is led to the electric chair after her lover, that it smells like Ray.

The final sequence shows how Robinson, whom the case and the work have taken with him, he called his work "cesspool", devotes himself more to his son again.

Reviews

Frank Scheck wrote in the Hollywood Reporter on May 3, 2006 that director and screenwriter Todd Robinson was focused on the investigators who had pursued the serial killers. He also shows the psyche of Martha Beck. Scheck praised the portrayals by John Travolta and James Gandolfini.

Awards

Todd Robinson was nominated for the Golden Seashell of the San Sebastián International Film Festival in 2006.

background

  • The plot is based on the true story of the Lonely Hearts Killers who killed twenty people between 1947 and 1949. It was filmed in 1970 as The Honeymoon Killers by Leonard Kastle and in 1996 under the title Profundo Carmesí by Arturo Ripstein (who moved the plot to Mexico).
  • Director and screenwriter Todd Robinson is the grandson of Elmer C. Robinson, portrayed in the film by John Travolta, who was also involved in the actual arrest of Fernandez and Beck. The police officer Robinson and his private life as well as his son - and thus also the director's father - are given a relatively high priority in the film.
  • The film was shot in New York City and the surrounding area, in Florida , in Los Angeles and Spokane ( Washington turned).
  • The world premiere took place on April 30, 2006 at the Tribeca Film Festival . The film was also shown on May 18, 2006 at the Jacksonville Film Festival , on July 22, 2006 as the closing film of the Munich Film Festival, on September 30, 2006 at the San Sebastián International Film Festival and on October 8, 2006 at the Haifa Film Festival presents.
  • Broad release began in Denmark and Finland , where the film opened on October 27, 2006. The German theatrical release was on June 28, 2007.
  • Martha Beck, portrayed by Salma Hayek, actually weighed over 100 kg.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for Lonely Hearts Killers . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , December 2006 (PDF; test number: 108 476 K).
  2. ^ Critique by Frank Scheck ( Memento from April 16, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Description of the film on Cinemaxx.de ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Filming locations for Lonely Hearts
  5. ↑ The final film of FILMFEST MÜNCHEN 2006 at www.filmfest-muenchen.de
  6. ↑ International start dates for Lonely Hearts on IMDb .com