Silentium (film)
Silence is the title of the film adaptation of the eponymous novel by Wolf Haas and at the same time the continuation of Come, Sweet Death in 2000. The main character Simon Brenner is of Josef Hader played, the FM4 presenter Hermes is heard as a narrator. The film was published as a DVD in the edition “ Der Austrian Film ”.
content
The film begins with the murder of a young man by two killers in front of the idyllic backdrop of Salzburg's old town: Gottlieb Dornhelm, the son-in-law of the Festival President (Udo Samel) is led to a slope with a sack over his head and immediately pushed down after it has been given to him has taken off his head. He is then found at the foot of the Mönchsberg and it appears that he has committed suicide.
Simon Brenner (Josef Hader) works as a department store detective in Salzburg. After catching the festival president's daughter - Konstanze Dornhelm - shoplifting, he is released and the shoplifter leaves the shop unmolested. Without an apartment, without money, without a job and without a wife, his excruciating headaches are currently the only thing he can rely on in life. Konstanze Dornhelm (Maria Köstlinger) then hires Brenner to solve the death of her husband. She is sure it was murder. The dead man had recently provoked a scandal by recalling his youth in the boys' convent and the sexual harassment by his educator at the time, the current Archbishop of Salzburg .
With the help of his old friend Berti (Simon Schwarz), an emergency doctor's assistant, Brenner begins the investigations that lead him inside the Konvikt, but also behind the scenes of the festival . He makes mysterious observations that he cannot initially make sense of.
Is there a connection between the affable and socially committed Father Fitz ( Joachim Król ) and the Festival President? Why does the festival president advise against doing any investigations? What is it with the Filipino housemaids who work in large numbers in the monastery and then disappear again at some point? Why is one of the maids imprisoned in the Konvikt? Who murdered Brenner's friend in a bestial way? Does the head of the monastery school ( Joachim Bißmeier ) know more than he admits or is he really as unworldly and harmless as it seems? Why does the house factotum Josef ( Georg Friedrich ) behave so strangely, and what does all of this have to do with the opera singers (Tini Kainrath, Jürgen Tarrach) who are guest at the Salzburg Festival?
When Brenner himself comes under suspicion of murder, events precipitate. Across the Bavarian border in the town of Petting am See lies the key to the truth: In their search for the last remaining information, Brenner and Berti fall into a deadly trap. With the knowledge of the Festival President and Sports Prefect Fitz, the killers Max and Moritz took them away for execution. It is only thanks to Brenner's presence of mind that they escape the seemingly certain death. They burst into the middle of a festival performance and then return to the monastery, where while trying to free a girl they are almost killed by Father Fitz, who locks all three in a shower stall and dousing them with boiling water. This time an umbrella saves them and the caretaker, who also kills the father. The case has been solved: Filipino forced prostitutes are disguised as nuns and brought to Austria and rented out to clients by Father Fitz. The festival president is in cahoots with Father Fitz. The Salzburg police look the other way and whoever gets too close to the machinations is eliminated by two killers. The better Salzburg society is not interested in another scandal. Brenner's client also turns away from him and explains to Brenner that her husband has committed suicide.
Disaffected, Berti and Brenner leave Salzburg as hitchhikers and are taken away by a pharmacist whom Brenner has had an eye on.
Stylistic devices
The director works with several allusions that are reminiscent of biblical scenes: When Brenner works in the Konvikt, he has to drag a cross through hallways, which is reminiscent of Jesus' crucifixion . When Fitz betrays him to the police, he gives Brenner a Judas kiss .
Differences from the book
The plot of the film differs drastically from the book in some ways. Individual characters from the book do not appear in the film, or only appear very differently. An example to be mentioned is Brenner's friend Berti, who does not appear in the novel, but was built in to give Brenner an opportunity to exchange ideas.
criticism
"Exciting, bitterly evil crime thriller with splatter elements, which picks up on recent Austrian scandals and moves confidently between the grotesque and seriousness."
Awards
- Austrian Film Award 2005
- Best film: Cognac Festival du Film Policier
literature
- Wolf Haas : Silentium! . The six Brenner novels, part 4. Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 2006, 207 pp., ISBN 978-3-455-40003-8 or ISBN 3-455-40003-5
Web links
- Silentium at Dor-Film
- Silence in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Silentium at filmportal.de
- Silentium in the online film database
Individual evidence
- ↑ Silentium. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed December 8, 2016 .