This review was first published on May 17, 2019. Now that the crime scene is being repeated on Sunday night, we’re reposting it.
In this Stuttgart crime scene detectives Lannert and Bootz are unbearable. Two cheerless men who really treat everyone disparagingly. Even the tea in the Revier is strictly monitored because otherwise it is so mean and steeps too long. Evil evil.
But Lannert (Richy Müller) and Bootz (Felix Klare) hardly matter this time, because “Anne und der Tod” is a carefully staged crime thriller for a soloist. That is something special, and Katharina Marie Schubert is also special, who plays this solo impressively: an interrogation that lasts several days, interrupted by flashbacks, investigations, by scenes that are described but perhaps weren’t. Anne is a geriatric nurse and is being questioned because two of her patients have died within two weeks. “From when is it a series? From three deaths?” she asks Bootz, and Lannert knows: “‘Todesengel’ is sometimes in the newspaper.” Which is what the suspicion leads to, which Anne, shaking her head, tries to refute point by point, sometimes a bit scatterbrained, almost cheerful. Above all, Anne is one thing: decent.
The dramaturgy of this crime scene is cleverly copied from the historically proven procedure of the Holy Inquisition (book: Wolfgang Stauch; director: Jens Wischnewski). If denied, you just have to ask more urgently. The two joyless ones don’t let go of Anne, they think she’s guilty from the start. The viewer, on the other hand, will increasingly think of her as a fundamentally good person. When they no longer have anything against Anne, Lannert asks: “What do we do now?” And Bootz replies: “Now it must hurt.”
There is much in this crime scenethat hurts. Roughly in the middle you are with the sheer misery of the nursing shortage and the question of whether that should be really captivating or just very, very depressing. The disgruntled inspectors also feel affected and think: “I’m slowly getting to the age where regular bowel movements can be a blessing,” says Lannert. Thanks for that. this one crime scene maybe another time.
But “Anne and Death” then develops into a subtle psychological game with the sympathies of the audience. Then it becomes a decent thriller.
The first, Sunday, 8:15 p.m.