Crime scene: time of the frogs
| Episode of the series Tatort | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Time of the frogs |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Production company |
Brick film Baden-Baden |
| length | 88 minutes |
| classification | Episode 1053 ( List ) |
| First broadcast | April 2, 2018 on Das Erste |
| Rod | |
| Director | Markus Imboden |
| script | Marco Wiersch based on an idea by Florian Oeller |
| production | Marc Müller-Kaldenberg |
| music | Florian Tessloff |
| camera | Martin Farkas |
| cut | Ursula Höf |
| occupation | |
| |
Time of the Frogs is a television film from the crime series Tatort . Heike Makatsch can be seen in the 1053rd episode of the Tatort series in her second case as Chief Inspector Ellen Berlinger. The commissioner, who has moved from Freiburg to Mainz, is now on hand to provide support to Chief Commissioner Martin Rascher, played by Sebastian Blomberg .
The contribution produced by SWR and directed by Markus Imboden was broadcast on the television program Das Erste on Easter Monday, April 2, 2018.
action
Jonas Ginori, son of Ellen Berlinger's cousin Maja and her husband Enzo, is a math-gifted seventh grader with an Asperger- like disposition who has an aversion to human contact. In his spare time he gives math tuition to the much older student Max Linner. Apart from occasional trips with his aunt Ellen Berlinger, Jonas hardly enjoys social contacts. During a flirt between Max and ninth grader Marie Blixen, he does not understand the subtext correctly and takes cheeky sayings and compliments far too literally. At an evening school party, Jonas approaches the lasciviously dancing Marie and whispers something in her ear, whereupon he receives a slap in the face in front of the horrified eyes of the classmates. Max, who follows Jonas hurrying away, speaks to him about the incident and then whispers to Marie.
Berlinger and her sensitive colleague, Chief Inspector Martin Rascher, are currently investigating the case of a girl's murder and are divided on the perpetrator. When a blood-smeared gray hoodie appears in the old clothes collection, Rascher suspects that it is related to her current investigation. Berlinger, however, does not initially express her own suspicion that the sweater might belong to Jonas. Since at the same time Jonas' classmate Marie, daughter of the wealthy Blixen couple, is reported missing, the investigators ask their classmates to be questioned in a hurry to check for a connection, but they hardly receive any reliable statements. When Berlinger picks up her little daughter in Maja in Enzo Ginori's restaurant towards evening, she witnesses how criminal Sergio Cammerieri visits them and molests Maja. She asks about Jonas and is told that he is on an outing with the neighbor and her son.
Later that evening, Berlinger has a private meeting with the younger Bassi Mahler, a supervisor from her daughter's kindergarten. When he is waiting for her at her apartment, she hardly has time for him and only answers his seemingly insignificant questions with great difficulty. Mahler learns that Berlinger has a grown daughter, with whom she only maintains sporadic contact, as she was raised by her grandmother. When she and Mahler begin to be intimate, Berlinger receives an urgent call. Mahler tries to playfully keep them from their duties, which Berlinger answers with a skillful police attack. However, she expects him to stay on site because her little daughter needs supervision.
The Blixens have received a ransom note in which the perpetrator demands € 10,000 for their daughter Marie. Shortly afterwards, the police found the body of a slain young girl in a remote building: it was Marie Blixen. Although Rascher demands that the Blixens should be informed about the find as soon as possible, Berlinger would like to withhold this for the time being for technical reasons, so that the Blixens are still available to hand over the money. She hopes this will catch the perpetrator. The subsequent handover fails despite complete surveillance by the police because of the culprit's cleverness. Berlinger draws the anger of the Blixen because of her approach, while Rascher manages to calm down Olivia Blixen.
Shortly afterwards, the gray hoodie actually turns out to be Jonas'. Maja admits that Jonas has not returned home since the party night. Meanwhile, the back and forth between Berlinger and Mahler continues. At first they get into an argument, as Berlinger describes his proximity as intrusive.
When Berlinger and Rascher seek out the suspected drug addict Hartl, whose fingerprints have been found in connection with the case, but the latter does not reveal anything, Berlinger loses patience and dips Hartl's head under water to force a statement. However, Hartl tears away more quickly and threatens to report her to his colleague if something like this happens again. As a result, Berlinger tries to improve his situation and gets along with Mahler again. However, Hartl and his girlfriend Crystal turn out to be free riders who wanted to take advantage of the wealthy Blixens' situation to extort some money. When the laboratory found out that there were traces of the gray hoodie on Marie's corpse, Berlinger now fears that Jonas could be the culprit. In conversation with Jonas' mother it turns out that her son was not away after all. Jonas appeared the morning after the party covered in blood. She brought him to Sergio Cammerieri for protection from the authorities and without Enzo's knowledge.
Berlinger picks up Jonas there and interrogates him. At first, the boy is very reserved and precocious, he is only 13 years old and in no case is he of criminal age. But in the end he says: he asked Marie about sex, but only received a humiliating laugh in response, whereupon he killed her. Berlinger then leads the very sober-looking boy to the crime scene to clarify the details of the crime. She tries to put emotional pressure on him because she suspects he is lying. But this only leads to Jonas getting excited and giving even more precise details about the process. The apparent certainty moves Berlinger to tears. Jonas is now afraid of losing his aunt as a friend and reveals to her the complete truth about the crime. In a flashback, the complete night of Marie's death can be seen: When asked about Marie's slap, Jonas Max explains that he wants to know how to make love. Max wants to show him because the idea of Jonas watching him having sex excites him. He invites Marie into the remote shell. While the two are getting intimate, the observing Jonas approaches and is discovered by Marie, who has no idea of Max's subtle intentions. When she wants to go away, frightened, Max explains his idea to her, but Marie in a rage threatens to make everything public on the Internet. Then she goes on to stroke Jonas in order to humiliate Max even more. He then takes a stone and kills Marie in affect. Jonas then smeared his hoodie with blood while transporting the corpse.
Jonas had lied to protect his criminal 16-year-old friend Max. Max is arrested according to the new testimony. Berlinger promises her downcast nephew, whom she believes is socially acceptable according to his latest statements, to continue spending time with him and in return receives a hug from him.
background
The film was shot from November 11, 2017 to December 19, 2017 in Mainz and Berlin .
The title Time of the Frogs refers to Martin Rascher's comment on the place where the girl's body was found. There he is very sad to see that he would like to hold it like the frogs, because they could “switch off completely when it gets cold [...] and wait until spring comes”.
reception
Reviews
“No, it's not up to the actors that the crime scene on Easter Monday is not an event. The staff is worth seeing, Heike Makatsch as Commissioner Ellen Berlinger, the wonderful Sebastian Blomberg as investigator colleague Martin Rascher, a man of the most sensitive character, there is no other person like that in the German crime film scene. Nevertheless, the Whodunit does not come out above average. Direction (Tatort veteran Markus Imboden) and script (Marco Wiersch) have packed far too much into this plot about a slain girl. "
“'Tatort' resurrection at Easter? Not really. […] Makatsch now works in the city where Nicole Heesters was the first 'Tatort' commissioner ever to work at the end of the 1970s. Heesters only appeared three times as an investigator; It can hardly be assumed that Makatsch will have more consequences. What may have been a difficult rapprochement between lonely people in the script turns into an ego trip. "
Audience rating
The first broadcast of Zeit der Fösche on April 2, 2018 was seen by 9.01 million viewers in Germany and achieved a market share of 25.7% for Das Erste .
Web links
- Crime scene: Time of the frogs in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Summary of the plot of Zeit der Fösche on the ARD website
- Time of the frogs at Tatort-Fans.de
- Time of the frogs at the crime scene fund
Individual evidence
- ^ Crime scene: time of the frogs at crew united
- ↑ Holger Gertz: Oxytocin. Süddeutsche Zeitung, March 30, 2018, accessed on March 31, 2018 : "In" Time of the Frogs ", Heike Makatsch determined again as Ellen Berlinger for the first time in two years - a character that the viewer remains alien."
- ↑ Christian Buß: ARD Easter thriller. The new "crime scene" with Heike Makatsch in a quick check. In: Culture. Spiegel Online , April 2, 2018, accessed on April 2, 2018 : "4 out of 10 points"
- ↑ Fabian Riedner: Primetime check: Easter Monday, April 2, 2018.quotemeter.de , April 3, 2018, accessed on April 3, 2018 .
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