Crime scene: murder fever
| Episode of the series Tatort | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Murder fever |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Production company |
SWR |
| length | 88 minutes |
| classification | Episode 409 ( List ) |
| First broadcast | April 5, 1999 on First German Television |
| Rod | |
| Director | Ulrich Stark |
| script | Fred Breinersdorfer |
| production | Susan Schulte |
| music | Birger Heymann |
| camera | Wolf Siegelmann |
| cut | Gudrun Bohl |
| occupation | |
| |
Mordfieber is a television film from the crime series Tatort with the Ludwigshafen investigator duo Lena Odenthal ( Ulrike Folkerts ) and Mario Kopper ( Andreas Hoppe ). It is the 409th Tatort episode and a SWR production . The episode was broadcast for the first time on April 5, 1999 on First German Television .
Lena Odenthal has to solve the murder of two female colleagues and is targeted by the mentally ill perpetrator herself.
action
During shooting training, Lena Odenthal tries to motivate her young colleague Carol Roschner. She knows that Carol is a bit weak privately and that a little encouragement is good for her. After training is over, Carol goes to her car and suddenly hears a whimper in the adjacent forest. She takes her pistol, wants to look and shortly afterwards a shot is fired. When Odenthal and Kopper come out of the training hall, they see Carol's car still parked, even though she had said she was in a hurry to go home. They go into the forest to look and find the young policewoman lying dead on the ground with a headshot and a cut face. Their quick intervention obviously disturbed the perpetrator, because he left behind the scalpel, an empty medication package and a diary with characters and symbols. The pack of tablets found contains "Retrosan" - a drug used to treat schizophrenia . Odenthal calls in the psychoanalyst Peter Rosso, which Kopper does not like. She discusses the case with Rosso after work and is of the opinion that the crime has a sexual background. Rosso, however, disagrees and suspects that the perpetrator has planned everything as ice cold and that he is an aggressive monster who will kill again. In his opinion, the killer works with precision, instinct and experience.
In Odenthal's opinion, sex offenders known to the police are initially considered for the act. She looks through the files and says that a Robert Schneider could be the perpetrator. However, is the situation, according to records in preventive detention . Therefore, Odenthal focuses on Carol's husband, as she knows that their marriage was not without problems and that he had beaten her more often. He even has a criminal record and his alibi is not waterproof. Kopper wants to check him out and goes to his trailer, in which he can often be found. When Wolfgang Roschner tries to flee, Kopper holds him back by force and Roschner suffers a fracture of the upper arm.
Unexpectedly, the police received an emergency call from colleague Ruth Behnke late in the evening. Odenthal goes to her and gets into a shootout. Obviously it was a trap that was deliberately set to lure Odenthal to this place. Although she is hit in the arm, she is looking for Ruth Behnke. However, this can only be found dead. Her face is cut up similar to Carol's and the murderer has again left empty " retro blisters ". Roschner is no longer considered a suspect due to his injury and the investigators are accordingly at a loss.
Peter Rosso, who arrives at the scene very quickly, takes care of Odenthal, who has been badly affected by the death of her colleague, and takes her to his apartment. Since the attack was obviously aimed at her, she is in danger. When he says that she should definitely take a sleeping pill, she becomes skeptical and just pretends to take the drug. In the night he approaches her bed. Since he thinks she is asleep, he lies down with her for a moment, but then leaves the room again. Odenthal had noticed this because she had only pretended to be asleep. When Rosso receives a visit from a patient in the middle of the night, he angrily sends him away with a pack of "Retrosan". Odenthal, who was secretly observing this, confronts Rosso and discovers countless packages of the drug in his desk. She has had the impression for a long time that his entire behavior appears very schizophrenic and so Odenthal has Rosso arrested. During the subsequent house search, she discovered Robert Schneider's files. Obviously he is his patient and she finds out that he was released from preventive detention five months ago on the basis of new reports. However, the clinic director is of the opinion that Schneider was not aggressive, but rather feared and suffered from paranoia.
Due to insufficient evidence, Rosso has to be released from custody. Schneider cannot be found either. Therefore, Kriminalrat Friedrichs wants Odenthal to leave the city for security reasons, but she absolutely wants to continue investigating and set a trap for the perpetrator. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, she stayed with Kopper and his mother. During the night, she receives a call and is ordered to a meeting point by a stranger. Although she wants to go alone, Kopper keeps an eye on her. She is sure that Schneider is waiting for her and shortly after her arrival a similar firefight begins as the day before. Believing that she has hit, Schneider approaches Odenthal, whereupon she shoots him with her service weapon. Suddenly, however, Rosso appears with a rifle. He wants to shoot Odenthal, but Kopper can prevent this and arrests him.
Rosso obviously had to struggle with a mental illness himself and had manipulated Robert Schneider in such a way that he had carried out these murders specifically for him.
background
The script for Murder Fever comes from Fred Breinersdorfer, who wrote the script for a total of four Odenthal cases. Florian Martens can be seen in the role of the villain Robert Schneider , who has appeared in A Strong Team as Chief Detective Otto Garber since 1994 .
reception
Audience ratings
The first broadcast of Mordfieber on April 5, 1999 was seen by a total of 6.92 million viewers in Germany and achieved a market share of 19.07 percent for Das Erste .
criticism
Günter H. Jekubzik from Filmtabs.de judges this dark crime thriller that this time it was not the gardener who was the murderer, but “the in-house criminal psychologist who worked too deeply into a case. All of this [happens] somewhat obviously, but - with strikingly concise musical accompaniment - with a lot of action, tempo and tension. Instead of the usual search game for evidence, witnesses or saving (script) ideas, the film offered a small, captivating horror hour in the effectively shaded blackout villa of the mysterious psychologist. Author Fred Breinersdorf created a complex case, the resolution of which remained unclear - but that's also something ... "
At Moviesection.de, Thomas Ays only gives two out of five possible stars and thinks: “'Murder fever' is definitely one of the worst 'crime scenes' in Ludwigshafen. The staging and script were probably too carried away here. [...] 'Murder Fever' is as transparent as a freshly cleaned window pane and as exciting as a game of mini golf. At the same time, director Ulrich Stark clearly exaggerates the staging, especially in actor scenes. [...] 'Murder Fever' is boring, lengthy, transparent and completely unsurprising. In addition, things are said and done here that have absolutely nothing to do with logic. "
The critics of the television magazine TV-Spielfilm write about the crime scene: “The 'Tatort' episode is blacker and scary than usual. However, the story is a bit too thick. [Conclusion:] fever? Only slightly increased temperature. "
Web links
- Murder fever in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Summary of the plot of Murder Fever on the ARD website
- Murder fever at the crime scene fund
- Murder fever at Tatort-Fans.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Production details and audience rating at tatort-fundus.de, accessed on March 15, 2014.
- ^ Günter H. Jekubzik film review on filmtabs.de, accessed on March 15, 2014.
- ↑ Thomas Ays film review on moviesection.de, accessed on March 15, 2014.
- ↑ Short review on tvspielfilm.de, accessed on March 15, 2014.
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