Crime scene: The Chinese princess

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Episode of the series Tatort
Original title The Chinese princess
Country of production Germany
original language German
Production
company		 Müller & Seelig film production on behalf of WDR for Das Erste
length 89 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
classification Episode 883 ( List )
First broadcast October 20, 2013 on Das Erste
Rod
Director Lars Jessen
script Orkun Ertener
production Jutta Müller for WDR
Gabriele Goiczyk for Müller & Seelig Filmproduktion GmbH Co. KG
music Stefan Wulff ,
Hinrich Dageför
camera Jana Marsik
cut Sebastian Schultz
occupation

The Chinese Princess is a television film from the crime scene television series . The film was produced by WDR and was broadcast for the first time on October 20, 2013 almost simultaneously by the stations Das Erste , ORF 2 and SRF 1 . It is the 883rd episode in the crime scene series, the 24th case of the investigative duo Thiel and Boerne portrayed by Axel Prahl and Jan Josef Liefers .

action

Songma, a Chinese artist, dissident , princess and the last descendant of the Chinese empress widow Cixi , exhibits her works, which have received a lot of attention, in the Westphalian State Museum . Jürgen Martin, curator of the State Museum, is satisfied to have won the artist for an exhibition that represents a major cultural event in Münster. But then, after the vernissage , during which the forensic doctor Boerne made the acquaintance of the lady , the Chinese woman was murdered with a scalpel in Münster forensic medicine and Boerne was found lying injured next to the dead woman. Boerne himself cannot remember the events of the last few hours. Cocaine is found in his blood. It remains to be seen whether Boerne killed the Chinese woman under the influence of drugs or whether the Chinese secret service is involved in the murder case. After all, the Chinese wanted to educate about the situation of the Uyghurs in China. Corresponding video clips showing the human rights violations are on her laptop, which is being stolen by a Chinese man when Inspector Thiel tries to look around the princess's apartment. Thiel can arrest the Chinese, who, it turns out, has a diplomatic passport and is a cultural attaché. The Chinese Embassy, ​​the Foreign Office and the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of the Interior are outraged and are urging prosecutor Klemm to clarify the case as soon as possible. Boerne is still under suspicion of murder and is taken into custody.

Meanwhile, Songma's assistant Zhao Yu-Tang has gone into hiding to flee from gangsters of the triads , the Chinese mafia. His pregnant fiancée, Xia Miao, is scared. She also worked for Songma as an assistant and is now secretly shadowed by the Chinese. She knows these people are more dangerous than the secret service. Shortly afterwards, the Uyghur Alim Can is found murdered in a forest near Munster. At the urging of the Chinese government, he was arrested as a terrorist suspect in Afghanistan, brought to Guantanamo and, after his innocence was established, was finally accepted into the island state of Palau . Meanwhile, Zhao Yu-Tang reports to his fiancée. He knows their enemies are looking for a book. Alberich succeeds in proving that Boerne must have administered the cocaine and that he did not take it himself. Thiel then takes him out of custody so that he can actively support him in the case based on his knowledge of Chinese culture.

The traces confront the investigators in Münster with the Chinese mafia. When Zhao Yu-Tang suddenly meets Thiel, he escapes, and Thiel takes Xia Miao into questioning. From her he learns that Songma did not primarily want to enlighten, but was only looking for sensations. She wanted to give the murdered Uighur a 1000 year old Uighur book in public. In return, the Uyghur had collected evidence that the Uyghur Islamist terrorist organization was just an invention of the Chinese government. In search of the book and the USB stick with the evidence that Zhao Yu-Tang had taken, the investigators came to a Chinese warehouse. Yu-Tang wants to create security for himself and his fiancée with the objects he is looking for by handing things over to his pursuers. But that fails and he is knocked down. Thiel and Boerne find him and free him, but are persecuted by members of the Chinese triads. Thiel's assistant Nadeshda, who is waiting at the car, is also taken hostage. The persecution ends at the museum, and it becomes clear that both the Chinese cultural attaché and Dr. Martin, the museum's curator, are implicated in the case. During the interrogation, Dr. Martin found out that he followed Songma that night and saw Zhao Yu-Tang in forensic medicine. Confronted with this statement, Yu-Tang confesses to having killed the princess because she had put everyone in extreme danger with her plan and because he wanted to protect his pregnant fiancée and himself.

background

Shooting in the LWL Museum for Art and Culture

The title The Chinese Princess refers to the main female character in the opera Turandot by Giacomo Puccini mentioned below . The figure of the dissident artist Songma can be interpreted as an allusion to the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei .

The film was shot in Münster , Cologne and the surrounding area. The shooting began on April 4, 2013. From April 29, 2013 to May 3, 2013, the week-long filming took place in Münster, which means that the shoot was longer in Münster than in previous years. A good week before the start of shooting in Münster, representatives of the production team met with employees of the civil engineering department of the city of Münster and representatives of the state museum at the LWL Museum for Art and Culture , which served as a backdrop for the Tatort production, although at the time of shooting it had been July 2012 ongoing construction work had not yet been completed. For the multi-day filming at the State Museum, which began on April 30, 2013, construction pits were filled in to hide the construction site from the camera. On the second floor of the State Museum, 130 red lanterns and a large number of bamboo poles were installed for the shooting. Production designer Alexander Scherer designed these installations especially for the shooting. The day before, on April 29, 2013, filming started in Münster with recordings on Gartenstrasse with the Münster correctional facility as a backdrop. In the early evening hours of April 29, 2013, filming continued at the rear of the main train station on Bremer Platz. Further filming took place at Ludgeriplatz , Überwasserkirchplatz and Prinzipalmarkt . The five days of shooting in Münster mainly comprised night shoots. On May 2, 2013 the shooting in Münster was finished. Filming for the episode ended on May 3, 2013.

Maverick Quek was already in 2007 in Münster's Tatort episode, Ruhe Gentle! to see.

The fastest corpse in a Tatort episode first broadcast in 2013 was 36 seconds after the opening credits in The Chinese Princess .

This episode features excerpts from the aria Nessun dorma from the opera Turandot by Giacomo Puccini .

At the end of the film, Boerne thanks his assistant and says Mrs. Haller to her for the first time.

The two Münster crime thrillers Wilsberg and the crime scene around the investigator duo Thiel and Boerne , who are active in Münster, have never been broadcast within 24 hours, as was the case with the Stallion Parade and The Chinese Princess on October 19, 2013 and the following day.

reception

Reviews

The episode The Chinese Princess received mostly positive reviews.

Mostly positive reviews

Christian Buß from the editorial office of the Spiegel writes that the Chinese princess is a "surprisingly good Münster" crime scene "" . In the “first strong case in years” , “black humor and political thrill” go together. “Eroticism as a freak show, that fits very well into Münster's» Tatort «” , in which “the professor becomes very fuzzy” when the “beautiful artist lifts one or the other organ out of the formaldehyde to lasciviously cradle it in her hands " . Meanwhile tried Commissioner Thiel "in a drunken stupor" his "young colleague Nadezhda Krusenstern to bewitch" served "her home on the couch as a nightcap Red wine from beer mugs and grins to moronic" . Up to this point, the plot corresponds to "the previous strategy of those responsible to pair slapstick with the sick" . But then "this" crime scene "now marks a change of direction in the Münster TV area: The enjoyable, counter-cut beating by Boerne and Thiel leads straight into an (almost) serious themed thriller." In this episode, Buß continues to judge, "hold up now thematic precision and black humor the scales ” . With the “skilfully politically charged case” that came along “light-handed, but never negligent” , the new beginning was “interesting” , because “Boerne and Thiel are really good if you let them” .

Harald Suerland from the Westfälische Nachrichten notes that after the last mostly comedic episodes, "the serious elements" "outweigh" the episode The Chinese Princess . The “dramatic opening sequence” is followed by a familiar element of the Münster crime scene “with a comedic plot line” . Jan Josef Liefers embodies the forensic doctor Boerne again “in a smeary, charming way” . Axel Prahl also "gets his comedy appearance at the beginning" in the role of Commissioner Thiel. The "case that revolves around powerful China and its handling of human rights" seems "a lot more time-critical" than "other, more silly episodes of the series" . Overall, the episode is “a bit puzzled” , Suerland continues to judge, “which is not bad” . After the episode was broadcast, Suerland wrote that the “historical background made for a comparatively serious Münster» crime scene ”” , but that “the victory call from Puccini's Chinese opera» Turandot «was deceptive” , on the one hand “because the eponymous princess was the murder victim” and on the other hand, “the confusing connections to repression and persecution in China naturally persisted with the end of the film” . “The standardized comedy episodes of the protagonists” had their place in the episode as usual, but they had “an unusual accent” because “Thiel and especially Boerne had to understand that in the past they literally belittled their respective employees had treated " . For such new aspects of the well-known characters, small inconsistencies and confusions in the plot were accepted , Suerland concluded in his gleanings.

Judith von Sternburg from the Frankfurter Rundschau is of the opinion that the episode "leaves nothing out that is standard script equipment for entertainment thrillers" . The script provided for “good gags” that were “dryly and casually staged ” by the director . "If" The Chinese Princess "were a nuance more serious, one could talk about whether that is happy" , but it is the "crudest conspiracy theory" of the television series, which is "definitely not to be missed" .

The focus of the film review by Angelika Zahn from Focus is the role distribution of the two main actors. "Professor Karl-Friedrich Boerne is the affected, highly intelligent joker with nerve potential, Inspector Frank Thiel the grumpy bully" , Zahn summarizes the consequences of the investigative duo so far. “But this time everything is different” , because Boerne was “extremely subdued and insecure” . With the many supporting actors you quickly lose track of things, Zahn judges the cast, from which Yvonne Yung Hee stands out in the role of Songma's assistant Xia Miao and plays "very intensely in a few words" . Overall, "it is interesting to see how the stereotypes of the main characters in the new» Tatort «from Münster are broken - and a thousand times more exciting than the umpteenth slapstick case of the popular duo" . Zahn concludes with the résumé: “It's worth switching on” in order to see “an exciting, sometimes somewhat confusing case” .

“The» Tatort «from Münster offers something beautiful once again,” says Jochen Hieber from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . "Because of funny, because of cheerful" , in the episode "there is no time for the notorious dialog skirmishes and status teasing between the Proll inspector Frank Thiel and the arrogance forensic scientist" . "Orkun Ertener's screenplay creates a deliberately hopeless jumble of characters," continues Hieber's judgment. Jan Josef Liefers is the one "who particularly benefits from this» Tatort «episode from Münster, which is brushed against the usual grain" . In the episode there was “a lot of message” and at the same time it did not reduce the “joy of the actors ” or the audience's enjoyment of all the absurd to abstruse turns of the plot ” . “The solution to the case” is “also this time rather outrageous, thus averting any logic, any probability” .

The editors of TV Today are of the opinion that the filmmakers were “more serious about the matter than last” . "After the somewhat monkey start, the script turns out to be " a boon for the duo " according to the editorial team . "The joke-tearing" faded into the background in this episode after it "had finally got out of hand" . "Not that everything about this rather constructed episode shines, but at least the case has a political dimension," continues the verdict. Believing in “a kind of restart for the duo” , the editors awarded two out of three possible points.

According to the assessment of the German Press Agency , the result is a “complicated case” which is “unusually political for Münster conditions” . “The case strains the viewers of the crime scene” , as they are presented with “many names that sound the same” and “a network of relationships that is difficult to keep track of” . The episode contains "a lot of narrative material for an hour and a half" , but it does not succeed in "permanently maintaining the tension" . “The private stories , on the other hand, remain consistently exciting,” Boerne, Thiel and their assistants know how to tell.

Mostly negative reviews

Holger Gertz from the Süddeutsche Zeitung sees “more care” and “less friction” between the two protagonists , which is definitely “promising” . “That is less silly, but it doesn't really help the story,” Gertz continues. "To entrust the Münster people with a more difficult topic" is "not a bad idea" and definitely "brave" . But the plot was "applied quite generously" , so that the episode seems "overloaded" . The “complicated story” , which contains “people with complicated names” , “who do not want to come close” , leaves the viewer “helpless and homeless” . Gertz ends with the statement, "the last escape route, to understand the whole thing as a kind of farce or as a parody, remains blocked - the political dimension of the story is too ambitious for that."

"The Ulknudeln from Münster regularly give ARD ratings at record levels thanks to the mostly successful mix of crime and comedy," admits Lars-Christian Daniels von Filmstarts . But at the same time he points out that the characters of the protagonists are now “a little old” and have not “really developed” for a long time . "A strong course correction" had therefore been made with the episode The Chinese Princess , making the episode "the most pointless Münster crosshair thriller of all time" . “But neither the fans nor the critics of Thiel and Boerne should be really happy with the result,” Daniels speculates. On the “serious path, which stands in striking contradiction to the previous concept” , “the teasing with the short-stature assistant Silke Haller, which is part of the concept , is missing ” . “A memorable Münster moment” is delivered in the episode's finale when Boerne “thanks his visibly moved helper honestly and sincerely and for the first time does not mockingly address her with“ Alberich ”but with“ Frau Haller ”” . However, according to Daniels, the episode is not "significantly upgraded" because the plot is "not only very confused, but also simply a number too international for the" crime scene " . In addition, was "the political incorrectness, known to be a hallmark of Münster" in the wake "more irritating than amusing" . One or the other "unusually thoughtful moment," will "by an offhand saying ruined" what "bad" is. Daniels is of the opinion that at the Münster crime scene there is “ no more fun” , because “people are allowed to laugh more than ever” . His conclusion is, “This course correction is brave, but not (yet) convincing” , which is why he awarded two out of a possible five points in the overall ranking.

As a result, “Münster-typical haywire” is the verdict of Ulli Tückmantel from the Rheinische Post .

Audience reactions

617 readers took part in a non-representative vote by the Münsterschen Zeitung on the question "How did you find the Münster crime scene?" With 49.76%, almost half of the survey participants answered that they “liked” the crime scene . The two answers “I didn't find the crime thriller particularly original or exciting” (17.67%) and “I missed the usual taunts between Thiel and Boerne” (17.5%) were roughly on par . 15.07% of those questioned stated that they had not seen the crime scene episode.

Speculation about the end of the investigative duo

Shortly after the broadcast of the episode The Chinese Princess, Axel Prahl denied speculation on Facebook that he wanted to get out of the Münster crime scene , which had been spread nationwide by the press after the broadcast of the previous episode Summ, Summ, Summ . Liefers announced at the beginning of October 2013 that he would leave the TV series if someone left the core team. He is quoted by the television magazine TV Digital with the words: "When the nicotine-addicted public prosecutor, little Alberich or the pot-smoking taxi driver's father hangs up his hat, it's all over for all of us - that's really true" .

Before that, after the filming of the episode was finished in early May 2013, Liefer's considerations were confirmed to produce a crime scene episode for the big screen. The investigators from Münster would follow in the footsteps of Götz George in the role of Tatort commissioner Horst Schimanski , who was seen in the cinema in the 1980s with tooth for tooth and Zabou .

Audience ratings

The first broadcast of The Chinese Princess on October 20, 2013 was seen by a total of 12.44 million viewers in Germany and achieved a market share of 33.5% for Das Erste . This put the Tatort episode at the top of the odds hit list of the day and was only half a percentage point behind the previous episode Summ, Summ, Summ , with which the Münster crime thriller in spring 2013 had the best crime scene rate in 20 years scored. In the group of 14- to 49-year-old viewers , 3.95 million viewers and a market share of 26.1% could be reached, whereby the crime scene was able to outstrip the broadcasting of Pirates of the Caribbean - Stranger Tides on ProSieben among younger audiences . According to Alexander Krei of DWDL , the broadcast in autumn 2013 with Pirates of the Caribbean - Stranger Tides had to compete with stronger competition than was the case in spring 2013.

In Austria, 755,000 viewers were reached and thus an average reach of 10% and a market share of 25% were achieved. This made The Chinese Princess in Austria slightly more successful than the previous Munster episode Summ, hum, hum .

In Switzerland, 580,000 viewers over the age of three watched the first broadcast of the episode, giving it a market share of 28.6%. In the group of 15 to 59-year-old viewers, 305,000 viewers were counted and a market share of 24.5% was measured.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for crime scene: The Chinese princess . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF). Template: FSK / maintenance / type not set and Par. 1 longer than 4 characters
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h Westfälische Nachrichten : Expensive art, expensive horses - this weekend, both cult crime thrillers from Münster , Medien, Münster, Harald Suerland, October 19, 2013
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Spiegel : Surprisingly good Münster “Tatort”: Greetings from the Leichenkeller , Kultur, Christian Buß, October 18, 2013
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung : "Tatort: ​​The Chinese Princess": Turandot in the Münsterland , Jochen Hieber, October 20, 2013
  5. ↑ a b c The Chinese princess at crew united
  6. ↑ a b c WDR / Das Erste : press booklet (PDF; 845 kB), accessed on October 20, 2013
  7. ^ A b Münstersche Zeitung : Münster-Tatort: ​​Thiel and Boerne are investigating again , Münster, Frank Reinker, April 5, 2013
  8. ↑ a b c d Westfälische Nachrichten : Boerne under suspicion of murder: Shooting of the new crime scene has begun , Münster, Münster, April 6, 2013
    Westfälische Nachrichten : Boerne under suspicion of murder: Shooting of the new crime scene has begun , Münster, April 5, 2013
  9. ↑ Münstersche Zeitung : “Tatort” filming: Prof. Boerne under suspicion of murder ( memento of November 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Münster, Helmut P. Erzkorn, May 2, 2013
  10. ^ A b Westfälische Nachrichten : On-site meeting for the crime scene shoot , Münster, April 19, 2013
  11. ^ A b Münstersche Zeitung : shooting from April 29th: Tatort Landesmuseum: production company visits construction site , Münster, Frank Reinker, April 18, 2013
  12. ↑ a b c d Münstersche Zeitung : Tatort-Dreh: Boerne and Thiel investigate in prison and behind the train station , Münster, Anna Gellner, April 29, 2013
  13. ^ A b Westfälische Nachrichten : Münster-Tatort: ​​Photo appointment with Tatort inspector , Münster, Maria Meik, May 3, 2013
    Westfälische Nachrichten: Photo appointment with Tatort inspector: 17-year-old Laura Kracht meets Axel Prahl while filming in the State Museum , Münster, Münster, May 3, 2013, Maria Meik
  14. ↑ RP Online : Visiting the shoot in Münster - "Tatort": Boerne under suspicion , Ulli Tückmantel / pst, May 4, 2013
  15. ^ A b Rheinische Post : Münster- “Tatort”: The Chinese Princess - Professor Boerne under suspicion of murder , Münster, Ulli Tückmantel, October 20, 2013
  16. ^ A b c d Westfälische Nachrichten : Tatort: ​​The Chinese Princess (ARD) - New Akzente , Media, Harald Suerland, October 21, 2013
    Westfälische Nachrichten : New Akzente - Tatort: ​​The Chinese Princess (ARD) , Harald Suerland, October 21 2013
  17. ^ Westfälische Nachrichten : New Münster crime scene: Boerne a murderer? , Münster, Martina Döbbe, April 29, 2013
    Westfälische Nachrichten: Boerne a murderer? - Filming for the new Münster crime scene has started , Münsterischer Anzeiger, Münster, Martina Döbbe, April 30, 2013
  18. ↑ Westfälische Nachrichten : Münster's quick corpse: A curious study of the dead in the "Tatort" , media, dpa , November 29, 2013
  19. ↑ Münstersche Zeitung : Tatort Taschenrechner: Project collects macabre numbers about the Sunday crime thriller , front page, Benjamin Konietzny, November 29, 2013
  20. ↑ a b c Frankfurter Rundschau : The crime scene “The Chinese Princess”: Night of love in the morgue , Judith von Sternburg, October 19, 2013
  21. ↑ a b c d e f Focus : “Short trial” with the Münster “Tatort”: “Isn't there always something with Boerne?” , Angelika Zahn, October 18, 2013
  22. ↑ a b c d e TV Today : Film Review , October 20, 2013
  23. ↑ a b c d Stern : Tatort: ​​The Chinese Princess ( memento from October 20, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), dpa , October 18, 2013
  24. ↑ a b c d e f Süddeutsche Zeitung : Münster crime scene "The Chinese Princess": Generously applied , Holger Gertz, October 20, 2013
  25. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Filmstarts : Filmkritik , Lars-Christian Daniels
  26. ^ A b c d Münstersche Zeitung : Vote: How did you find the Münster crime scene? , accessed October 23, 2013
  27. ↑ Westfälische Nachrichten : Axel Prahl remains at the Münster “Tatort” , Medien, gap, October 19, 2013
  28. ^ A b Münstersche Zeitung : Münster Tatort - Liefers: Without Alberich it would be over immediately ( memento from October 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Berlin / Münster, dpa , October 9, 2013
  29. ^ A b Westfälische Nachrichten : Münster-Tatort - Liefers: "Without Alberich I would break up" , Münster, October 9, 2013
  30. ↑ a b Westfälische Nachrichten : The screen is getting too small for them: Success of the Münster “Tatort” lets screen plans mature / Jan Josef Liefers confirms considerations , Ralf Repöhler, May 6, 2013
    Westfälische Nachrichten : The screen is getting     too small for them: Success of the Münster “crime scene” allows canvas plans to mature / Jan Josef Liefers confirms thoughts , media, Ralf Repöhler, 7 May 2013
  31. ↑ a b Münstersche Zeitung : Münster-Tatort in feature length - Big cinema: Thiel and Boerne want to be on the screen ( Memento from November 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Münster, dpa , May 7, 2013
  32. ↑ a b c d dwdl.de : Again over 12 million viewers - Münster- "Tatort": No record, but before Johnny Depp , Alexander Krei, October 21, 2013
  33. ↑ a b Münstersche Zeitung : Tatort Quotenkönige: 12.44 million viewers see Thiels and Boernes Filmriss ( Memento from October 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Münster, October 21, 2013
  34. ↑ a b Medienforschung ORF , data from Sunday, October 20, 2013
  35. ↑ a b Swiss Radio and Television : SRF 1 - October 20, 2013  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Mediapulse TV panel - German-speaking Switzerland, Overnight, people three years and older, accessed on October 22, 2013@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.srf.ch  
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