Crime scene: Christmas bonus

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Episode of the series Tatort
Original title Christmas bonus
Country of production Germany
original language German
Production
company		 ProSaar media production
length 87 minutes
classification Episode 927 ( list )
First broadcast December 26, 2014 on Das Erste and SRF 1
Rod
Director Zoltan Spirandelli
script Michael Illner
production Martin Hofmann
music Andy Grudge
camera Wolf Siegelmann
cut Magdolna Rokob
occupation

Christmas bonus is a television film from the crime series Tatort . The film produced by Saarländischer Rundfunk (SR) was broadcast for the first time on December 26, 2014 by the broadcasters Das Erste and SRF 1 . It is the 927th episode in the crime scene series and the fourth case with the investigative duo Stellbrink and Marx portrayed by Devid Striesow and Elisabeth Brück . The film series was directed for the second time by Zoltan Spirandelli , the script was written by Michael Illner .

action

Two days before Christmas, Xenia, a young woman, is run over and seriously injured. The person who caused the accident, the well-known pimp Georg König "King George", then committed a hit and miss . He is recognized by the taxi driver Theo "Teddy" Diehl, who happens to be passing by, because of his distinctive car ('70 Mercury Cougar in purple). But he doesn't help either, but drives home and blackmailed King George by phone with a disguised voice. Only Richard Kühn, the victim's friend, finds her on the street and calls the emergency services; his call is recorded. Josef "Jupp" Bertin, also a taxi driver who lives in a shared apartment with Teddy , learns of the accident and the blackmail . To be on the safe side (and to calm his conscience), he reports the accident from a phone booth. He is observed by a passer-by, a quick draftsman, who makes a precise phantom picture when the police are questioned. Based on this picture, Jupp's identity can be determined and the apartment is searched. Jupp, who has previously packed his things and left, is no longer to be found; In return, however, his colleague Teddy is found dead by the investigators after he was strangled by a chain of lights and then suffered a reflex cardiac arrest .

The chief inspectors Stellbrink and Marx as well as the forensic technician Horst Jordan and the public prosecutor Nicole Dubois investigate, among other things, at the Saarbrücken Christmas market, where pickpockets steal Stellbrink's phone and wallet with ID cards right from the start. On the night before Christmas, heavily pregnant Maria Ventura from Sicily and the taxi driver Josef “Jupp” meet . Both are on the run; her because the child did not come from her husband, who died six months ago; he because of his dead colleague. Jupp cannot be reached by the investigators after Maria asked him to drive her to the train station. She wanted to visit her grandmother in Mariapoli in Sicily. He offers her to drive her about 2,000 km there free of charge, but because labor is already beginning, he accommodates her in the property of a friend who died six weeks ago outside of Saarbrücken in Rubendorf. He parks his taxi in the city and returns to her "hostel" with a midwife in her car. - In the course of the investigation, two family dramas in Sicily and Germany as well as the aforementioned escape from an accident and the associated blackmail are uncovered, the pickpockets arrested, the murder of Teddy clarified by a comparison of voices and a child was born on December 24th in a barn.

background

The Christmas bonus crime scene was filmed from December 5, 2013 to January 22, 2014 on the St. Johann market in Saarbrücken and in Güdingen . The crime scene episode is a ProSaar media production for Saarland radio and Degeto Film .

The episode contains numerous allusions to the biblical Christmas story. This includes u. a. the choice of names for the roles of the pregnant Maria and the taxi driver Josef, who visit a barn for the delivery. In addition, various traditional Christmas carols in instrumental versions were used as film music. The music title Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas in the version by Christina Perri has also been used.

reception

Reviews

Volker Bergmeister from Tittelbach.tv comes to the conclusion: “The fourth 'crime scene' with Devid Striesow as the investigator, staged by Zoltan Spirandelli at Christmas time is rather calm and action-free, offers marriage drama, blackmail and tragic accident. There is a lot of work waiting for the idiosyncratic, lovable Saar cop. "

At the FAZ , Nils Minkmar sees this as less positive and says: “The brave actors and actresses resist the inevitable tendency of this script (Michael Illner) to regress again to a loose collection of ideas, but they have no chance. When there is no story to be told, arts and crafts fail. If you can't think of anything, you don't have to do a thriller. But the money may expire if you don't somehow film it away in the current calendar year. "

Christian Buß at Spiegel Online sees it similarly and says that switching on was not worth it, because: with “'Christmas bonus', the Saar 'crime scene' once again lives up to its bad reputation. Anyone who wants to see a successful, comical 'crime scene' has to be patient until the New Year. There is the 'Tatort' from Weimar with Christian Ulmen. Leckomio! "

Audience rating

Despite the mostly not very positive reviews, “Tatort: ​​Christmas Bonus” was watched by 6.48 million viewers when it was first broadcast on December 26, 2014, and thus reached 19.9 percent. He even won the day in the advertising-relevant target group of 14-49 year olds with 14.3 percent and 1.7 million viewers.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Volker Bergmeister: Devid Striesow, Brück, Illner, Spirandelli. It's really Christmas in Saarbrücken at tittelbach.tv, accessed on May 14, 2016.
  2. ↑ Nils Minkmar: Murder is still the slightest problem at faz.net, accessed on May 14, 2016.
  3. ↑ Christian Buß : ARD Christmas thriller: The new Saar “Tatort” in a quick check at spiegel.de, accessed on May 14, 2016.
  4. ↑ SR “Tatort” “Christmas bonus” in Saarland with a top rate clearly ahead - nationwide in the young target group of daily winners at prosaar-medien.de, accessed on May 14, 2016.
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