Quick check
New Year’s “crime scene” from Stuttgart
Ice cold femme fatale or victim of sexual violence? A film about the male gaze
The “Tatort” commissioners Thorsten Lannert (Richy Müller) and Sebastian Bootz (Felix Klare, right) do not agree: Has Kim Tramell (Ursina Lardi) been raped – or a cold-blooded murderer?
© SWR / Benoît Linder / ARD
Was Kim Tramell rape or is she a liar and a killer? The Stuttgart “Tatort” commissioners Lannert and Bootz were unable to get a proper picture of the night of the crime – although apparently clear video images were available.
- 4 out of 5 points
- Strong “crime scene”, perhaps a little too dark and profound thematically for the broadcast date on New Year’s.
What’s the matter?
After a cheerful Christmas party at an insurance company, Kim Tramell (Ursina Lardi) and her department head Oliver Jansen (Oliver Wnuk) retreat to his office. The next morning, Tramell’s competitor is dead in the foyer. He had filmed the two of them having sex with each other. Consensually – says the man. She was raped, says the woman. Who is right? The “Tatort” commissioners Thorsten Lannert (Richy Müller) and Sebastian Bootz (Felix Klare) disagree: everyone believes that they see something different in the film. “Video evidence” is the title of this “crime scene” episode – in the end, however, a dog helps to clarify the case.
Why is the “crime scene” worthwhile?
Unfortunately, the topic is and remains topical: women are often victims of sexual violence – but the perpetrator is rarely convicted. This is because it is difficult to provide evidence – even if video images are available, as in this case. The dilemma is exemplified in Thorsten Lannert’s encounter with Kim Tramell: She models risks for an insurance company and calculates probabilities. The commissioner is concerned with the opposite: the improbable that suddenly comes into being. “Nevertheless, you only see the probable on this video, not the improbable. I thought that was exactly what you do,” accuses him of the alleged rape victim.
It is not without reason that she bears the surname Tramell. Like Catherine Tramell, played by Sharon Stone from “Basic Instinct”, she is shown to be freezing and manipulative, and like the investigator Nick Curran, embodied by Michael Douglas, Thorsten Lannert also threatens to get caught in her erotic web. Or is it all just the male gaze that turns an innocent woman into a desirable object?
What bothers?
There is little to complain about in this excellently constructed case (book: Rudi Gaul and Katharina Adler). Only the broadcast date is a bit irritating. The viewer is more used to crime thriller from Weimar from the past few years. Somehow that went better with caring for the New Year’s Eve hangover.
The commissioners?
Ironically, two men are taking care of a case that also involves allegations of rape. How good that Lannert and Bootz have an intern from the police school: Stefanie Seiler (Amelie Herres) brings a female perspective.
Turn on or off?
No “crime scene” to snooze away comfortably on New Years Eve. Still, you shouldn’t miss out on “video evidence”.
The Commissioners Lannert and Bootz also determined in these cases: