“Of Apes and Men”
This is how the new crime thriller from Zurich will be
Are confronted with a bizarre series of murders: Anna Pieri Zuercher (l.) as Isabella Grandjean and Carol Schuler as Tessa Ott.
© SRF/Sava Hlavacek
The Zurich investigators are faced with a mystery after a series of murders. Is it worth tuning in to “Crime Scene: Of Apes and People”?
In October 2020, Isabelle Grandjean and Tessa Ott celebrated their debut as “crime scene” investigators in the Swiss metropolis Zurich. Since then, the investigators have been convincing critics and television audiences with their strong and homogeneous Sunday evening crime stories, which also shed interesting light on the characters of the detectives.
Are the actresses Carol Schuler (37) and Anna Pieri Zuercher (45) as well as the creators behind the scenes staying true to themselves or is there a surprising one in “Tatort: Von Affen und Mensch” (on April 14th from 8:15 p.m. on the first). U-turn? This much can be revealed in advance: A surprising component from Switzerland is added to the latest case.
That’s what “Crime Scene: Of Apes and People” is about
There is a state of emergency in the Zurich murder squad after several people and even a monkey were found murdered. The investigators Carol Schuler (Ott) and Anna Pieri Zuercher (Grandjean) are faced with a mystery and are working feverishly to stop the series of murders. They search for patterns and connections in a city plagued by a sinister crime wave. First, the detectives make a gruesome discovery at the scene in a zoo: a chimpanzee is the victim. Despite prosecutor Anita Wegenast’s (Rachel Braunschweig, 56) cold legal classification of the crime as property damage, Ott continues to investigate, driven by moral outrage.
The series of murders in Zurich is expanding, and at first glance the bodies seem to have nothing to do with each other. The situation becomes further complicated when a suspect (Sarah Viktoria Frick, 41) disappears without a trace and the investigators Ott and Grandjean are under enormous pressure to solve the crime. The discovery of a pattern in the crimes ultimately enables a breakthrough. But the ambitious public prosecutor Wegenast, who wants to derive personal benefit from the results of the investigation, finds herself involved in a risky political maneuver…
Is it worth turning on?
Yes, and only with very slight deductions in the B grade. After initial difficulties, the Swiss investigative team has now settled in and is a refreshing constant in the large “crime scene” cosmos. While the focus has so far been on the seriousness and the two personalities of the different investigators, the focus shifts a little for the first time in “Of Apes and People”. The film is surprising in this way: quite funny and comedic elements skilfully alternate with classic crime story narratives, something that one would never have expected from the Swiss “Tatort” team. Both the main actresses get their funny moments and the plot itself sometimes has almost slapstick Münster features.
These sometimes almost grotesque scenes surprise “Tatort” fans who wanted a thoroughly serious Sunday evening crime thriller. Nevertheless, the result was a very entertaining film that lasts 90 minutes – and is simply fun. However, the film has one small drawback. Apparently the filmmakers themselves noticed this: the story is a bit confusing at times, so that the viewer can hardly keep up. So after about an hour you even take the time to re-read what you’ve already seen for those viewers who may have been unable or unwilling to follow at one point or another.
Although this was cleverly woven into the film (the investigators explain the previous investigation results to their public prosecutor in detail), this script twist didn’t necessarily have to be there: two or three less plot twists would almost certainly have done the trick. Be that as it may: “Of Monkeys and Men” is a good to very good “crime scene” crime thriller that will definitely give the vast majority of people an exciting and pleasant time in front of their TV sets.