Streaming: “Where’s Wanda?”: Bizarre search for missing daughter

Streaming
“Where’s Wanda?”: Bizarre search for missing daughter

Carlotta Klatt (Heike Makatsch) and Dedo Klatt (Axel Stein) have tried pretty much everything to find their missing daughter. They gave press conferences, covered their hometown of Sundersheim with pictures and even appeared on television. But 17-year-old Wanda (Lea Drinda) remains as if swallowed by the earth in the first German-language series on Apple TV+.

Also the approach of the Police with the tough inspector Michelle Rauch (Nikeata Thompson) increasingly frustrates the family. On the 70th day of Wanda’s disappearance, the Klatts have finally had enough. They take matters into their own hands and do so with drastic means: Disguised as employees of an electronics company, the couple and their tech-savvy son Ole (Leo Simon) spy on the neighbors – and in the process penetrate a little too deeply into the or other Sundersheimers.

“Where’s Wanda?” will be available to stream worldwide on Apple TV+ starting October 2nd. A new one of the eight episodes will be released every Wednesday until November 13th. The tragicomedy not only deals with Wanda’s disappearance, but also deals with the dark secrets of an average small German town. A city “where you are of course a fan of the local football team,” as Wanda, who appears as the narrator, explains.

Tragedy wrapped in humor

The series, produced by UFA Fiction, features all sorts of acting celebrities, including Palina Rojinski, Kostja Ullmann, Devid Striesow and Joachim Król. The film was directed by the experienced and award-winning filmmakers Christian Ditter (“Biohackers”), Tobi Baumann (“Pastewka”) and Facundo Scalerandi, who was already involved in the German Netflix success “How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast)”.

“Where’s Wanda?” wraps an actually tragic story in comedy and bizarreness. The producers manage to bring the search for Wanda onto the screen with humor, without appearing irreverent. And in addition to all the funny and originally told scenes, there are also the sad moments. For example, when Carlotta desperately asks her husband after a nerve-wracking television appearance: “She’s still alive, isn’t she?”

The endless search for Wanda turns into a bizarre story over the course of the series and reveals an even more bizarre neighborhood. Carlotta, Dedo and Ole find themselves in a deep vortex full of family secrets – and do everything they can to see their daughter and sister sitting at the breakfast table again in the morning. Right from the start, Wanda asks herself the crucial question: “How far would you go if you lost someone you love?”

dpa