More than friends

Episode of the Spring Series
Original title	More than friends
Country of production	Germany
original language	German
Production company	UFA fiction
length	90 minutes
Age rating	FSK 6
classification	Episode 15 ( list )
German-language first broadcast	April 22, 2018 on ZDF
Rod
Director	Thomas Jauch
script	Natalie Sharp
production	Natalie Scharf Leif Alexis
music	Christoph Zirngiebl Andreas Weidinger
camera	Peter Joachim Krause
cut	Behruz Torbati
occupation
Simone Thomalla : Katja Baumann Marco Girnth : Mark Weber Cristina do Rego : Philippa, Miguel's friend Christoph M. Ohrt : Jan Steinmann Kristo Ferkic : Adrian Steinmann Jan Sosniok : Tom Kleinke Adina Vetter : Judith Kleinke Aniya Wendel : Nora Kleinke Lara Tabea Günzel : Marie Kleinke Johannes Herrschmann : Pastor Sonnleitner Johanna Klante : Michelle Schmid Merab Ninidze : Cem Oktay Caroline Ebner : Dr. Stefanie Schneiderhahn Bettina Mittendorfer : Mrs. Hagen Sarah Brandner : Office hours help Patrick Mölleken : Peet Hagen Konstantin Frolov : Ruth Wohlschlegel : Lissi Krug Annabel Faber : Waitress Isabella Leicht : Zoo seller Sebastian Gerold : Mayr, police officer Franziska Ball : Butcher customer Yannik Raiss : Miguel Ferraz
chronology
←  Predecessor Nothing against Papa Successor  → Good fathers, bad fathers

More than friends is a German television film in the spring film series by Thomas Jauch , which was first broadcast on ZDF on April 22, 2018 .

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 fifteenth film in a series that focuses on the people of the village called Spring .

action

Village helper Katja Baumann receives an emergency call because the caller wants to kill herself. At first Katja doesn't know who it is, but after some research she can identify her as Judith Kleinke, whose family bought an old farmhouse in spring some time ago. She makes her way to her and finds a very listless and desperate woman. Her two daughters suffer from their mother's depressive state, but do not want to admit this to each other. But Katja cannot be turned away and tries to help the family. Only with great effort does she manage to win the trust of the older daughter Nora and the worried husband. In the end, he agrees to take his wife to a special clinic. Katja has the suspicion that something might be wrong with the house, because Nora is increasingly ailing and the flowers in the house are not flourishing. According to Katja's research, the previous owner's dog had also gotten sick and almost died.

In her private life, Katja's relationship with Cem has cooled off a bit and so she gets a little closer to Mark. But when she finally spends the first night with him, Cem stands unannounced in front of the door, who withdraws again in view of the seemingly very happy two. Meanwhile, Mark urgently needs to go to Leipzig to see his father, who is doing very badly. He was able to win over the young Portuguese woman Philippa for the veterinary representation, who with her knowledge of holistic medicine also achieved recognition among the local people. Katja, on the other hand, treats her with skepticism because she is a little jealous of 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 under the working title Spring - An old, beautiful house from May 22nd to July 14th 2017 in Bayrischzell and the surrounding area.

reception

Audience ratings

When it was first broadcast on April 22, 2018, Mehr als Freunde was seen by 4.90 million viewers in Germany, which corresponded to a market share of 14.6 percent.

criticism

Rainer Tittelbach from tittelbach.tv found “dramaturgically, this episode is extremely dense, and the staging, which in the past sometimes got something irrelevant due to its uniformity (which then rubbed off on the stories), seems more concentrated here, certainly also because there are simply so many and many fundamental things is told. The interplay of music and movement (camera, editing, car trips through nature), always a trademark of the series, contributes significantly to the relaxed atmosphere of the film. "

The critics of the TV magazine TV Spielfilm gave this episode a "thumbs straight". They judged: “A funny runaway cow clearing the table in the rustic living room of a high-income household is one of the few comedic highlights of this family drama about depression (cousin plays great!), Social engagement, a few rustic guys - and a deceased guinea pig. Conclusion: "A lot of good deeds do not make a good film."

Web links

• More than friends in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• More than friends at Fernsehserien.de
• More than friends at crew united

Individual evidence

1. ↑ More than friends at crew-united.com, accessed on January 10, 2019.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Rainer Tittelbach: Thomalla, Ohrt, Ferkic, do Rego, Jauch / Karen, Scharf. Consistently consecutive film review at tittelbach.tv, accessed on January 11, 2019.
3. ↑ Short film review at tvspielfilm.de, accessed on January 11, 2019.