On Saturday evening the adaptation of Robert Habeck’s novel “Hauke Haiens Tod” was shown on ARD. Over four million viewers tuned in.
Before Economics Minister Robert Habeck started his political career, he and his wife Andrea Paluch wrote books together. In 2001, the couple, who married in 1996, published their debut novel “Hauke Haiens Tod”, a literary adaptation of Theodor Storm’s “Der Schimmelreiter”. The work was made into a film and shown on Saturday evening on Erste – with complete success.
The film adaptation of Robert Habeck’s novel was shown on ARD at 8:15 p.m. under the name “Die Flut – Tod am Deich”. According to “Fokus”, the mystery drama took second place in terms of ratings after “Tagesschau”. 17.8 percent of the total audience, over 4.1 million people, tuned in. This means that the film “The Masked Singer” on ProSieben (5.9 percent market share) was clearly ahead.
But things looked different for the group of 14 to 49 year olds. According to the “Tagesschau”, “Drei gegen Ein” on RTL was in the lead with a market share of 14.6 percent, i.e. almost 600,000 viewers, closely followed by “The Masked Singer” (12 percent market share). “The Flood – Death on the Dike,” however, did not do particularly well with younger audiences.
“Unexcited, great cut”
The Saturday night film received mixed reactions on social media. “Good film. Calm, great editing. I don’t say that often,” was the conclusion of an X user. “The film was good. I don’t know the book. So it could be that the book is better. The story is on par with the real Schimmelreiter. The couple Paluch and Habeck don’t have to hide,” someone else agreed. “The Habeck film wasn’t that bad,” says one user.
However, some viewers couldn’t believe it. “It was terrible,” wrote one completely unconvinced person. “The film ‘The Flood’ based on the novel by R. Habeck wasn’t exactly worth seeing,” commented another X user.