Police call 110: Beyond death

Episode of the series Polizeiruf 110
Original title	Beyond death
Country of production	Germany
original language	German
Production company	Polyphon Film- und Fernseh GmbH for NDR
length	86 minutes
classification	Episode 189 ( List )
First broadcast	May 11, 1997 on Das Erste
Rod
Director	Manfred Stelzer
script	Gerd C. Möbius Manfred Stelzer
production	Barbara Beauvais
music	Hans-Jürgen Buchner
camera	Oliver Jakob
cut	Hedy Altschiller
occupation
Kurt Böwe : Kurt Groth Uwe Steimle : Jens Hinrichs Ilse Neubauer : Elisabeth von Esterhazy Tilo Prückner : Rene Schmeidle Elsa Grube-Deister : Renata Wollenschlager Irm Hermann : Dr. Klara Hansen Otto Mellies : Kurt Baree HH Müller : Chief Detective Dr. Stuber Christel Peters : Gabriele Horn Kurt Radeke : Tauber wine Christine Schorn : Christine Scholl Gabriele Völsch : Juliane Groth Laura Tonke : Miss Weber (granddaughter) Barbara Morawiecz : Mrs. Matzke

Beyond Death is a German crime film by Manfred Stelzer from 1997. The television film was released as the 189th episode in the film series Polizeiruf 110 .

action

Chief Inspector Jens Hinrichs is frustrated because he has to investigate a repeated break-in into a kiosk and thus another case of insurance fraud. He complains to his superior, Dr. Stuber, in addition to a very good education, he has also completed numerous advanced training courses. However, the really important cases are taken over by the LKA, so that Hinrichs has no prospect of career advancement. His next case is hardly any better either, so he has to deal with fake pedigree dogs from Denmark. Although, as a person who is afraid of dogs, he would like to have Commissioner Kurt Groth at his side, he has to research alone. Groth has decided to go on vacation. While fishing, he happened to visit the union's former guest house, which now functions as a retirement home under the name Haus Humanitas . Here he had been invited to dinner and had met his old school friend Kurt again. He wants to spend his vacation time creating a garden on an unused piece of lawn in the old people's home. In the home, people like to let the passionate hobby gardener go their own way, nobody knows that Groth is a detective.

One day a young woman from America visits the home to visit her grandfather Weber, who, according to the home manager Elisabeth von Esterhazy, has just left. She shows Weger's granddaughter his room. The woman doubts, however, because many furnishings do not match her grandfather. She reports a missing person to Hinrichs. Another reason is that she has not been able to reach her grandfather by phone for a year. The next day the home management officially lets Weber die, there is a funeral service and a funeral dinner. Hinrichs soon appeared in the home and was astonished to find Groth already in the garden. In front of Elisabeth, Hinrichs spontaneously pretends to be Groth's son, who wanted to visit his father on vacation. Groth doesn't want to know anything about the investigation, he's on vacation. Weber's sudden death shortly after his granddaughter's visit also puzzles him, especially since the residents of the nursing home do not seem to have any financial difficulties, although the rooms are expensive and the food, thanks to the former TV chef and current resident of Haus Humanitas, is exquisite. When asked, Kurt says that the residents of the house are there for each other even after death; he does not give Groth any further explanation.

Kurt will celebrate his birthday shortly, so that the residents of the home have been rehearsing a small celebration including a stage program for some time. He dies unexpectedly two days before his birthday. The plan immediately takes effect, as it is used for all the dead in the home: Kurt is taken to the home's cold room, where five other corpses are already stored. The residents consider who could take Kurt's free space in the home and want to offer it to Groth. A private detective appears who had been commissioned by Kurt to research Groth during his lifetime. In this way, the residents find out that Groth was with the police - the detective could only access the data until 1990 and therefore when Groth took early retirement. But they now know for sure that Hinrichs cannot be Groth's son because, according to the data, he only had one daughter. Unrest spreads and so the residents decide to let the corpses in the basement of the house disappear.

They invite Groth and Hinrichs to a dress rehearsal of their stage program for Kurt. Hinrichs appears with a “trial dog”, as Groth had recommended that he buy a dog to cure his fear of dogs. While the program is running, home doctor Dr. Hansen and home hairdresser Rene Schmeidle put the bodies in a van. Hinrichs, however, the dog runs away and so he discovers two of the six dead in the refrigerator. He informs Dr. Stuber and at the end interrupts the performance by identifying himself as a commissioner. With Groth he goes to the cold room, which is empty. Elisabeth explains that the room is naturally used to cool the dead, especially in warmer months. Kurt is also dead - his body is laid out in his room. Shortly afterwards, the residents of the home set off on an excursion; Schmeidle had already left with the first bus. Since Hinrichs suspects that the dead are on the bus, he drives after Groth. Groth explains to him that no people were murdered in the home. They died of natural causes but were not reported as dead. The home management received the pensions for six people and was able to guarantee a life for all residents. If a seventh person died, they took the place of one of the six already dead, with the oldest dead person officially reported as dead. Shortly afterwards, Hinrichs and Groth meet the residents of the home. The first minibus had an "accident" and went up in flames. Only driver Schmeidle could save himself. The corpses of the cold store officially died in one fell swoop and Hinrichs can no longer prove anything to the home. He doesn't know how to tell Dr. Stuber should bring the case, but Groth thinks that it is an insurance claim because of the burned-out car - and thus a typical case that Stuber only trusts Hinrichs anyway.

production

Beyond death, the film was shot in Schwerin and the surrounding area. The costumes of the film created Heidi Plätz that Filmbauten come from Peter Bausch . The film had its television premiere on May 11, 1997 on Das Erste . The audience participation was 17.3 percent.

It was the 189th episode in the series Polizeiruf 110 . The inspectors Hinrichs and Groth investigated in their 9th case.

criticism

The "story of the clever seniors from the old people's home who are leveraging pension policy in their very own way [is] a particularly amusing and immoral one", stated the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung . "A great team [...] rages off in a story that in the end made the criminal energy at least halfway triumphant." Beyond death , a "wonderfully down-to-earth plea for a bit of anarchy in the East and the best proof that a Sunday night crime thriller doesn't need a murder, but above all a good script, ”said Die Tageszeitung . "Bizarre senior thriller, great cast", summarized the TV Spielfilm .

Web links

• Police 110: Beyond death in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Police call 110: Beyond death at filmportal.de
• Police call 110: Beyond death on Das Erste.de

Individual evidence

1. ^ Peter Hoff: Police call 110. Films, facts, cases . Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2001, p. 198.
2. ↑ Enjoyable . In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung , May 13, 1997.
3. ↑ Oliver Gehrs: No corpse for Blüm . In: Die Tageszeitung , May 13, 1997, p. 18.
4. ↑ Police call 110: Beyond death on tvspielfilm.de

previous episode April 27, 1997: The Stranger

Police Call 110 Follow

next episode July 13, 1997: The wrong Sonja