The world of classical music is a very special one. Michael Sturminger’s ARD comedy “The Presumption of Innocence” takes place behind the scenes of the opera business – Ulrich Tukur can be seen as an arrogant and overbearing conductor.
Berlin – There are intrigues and abuse of power in many companies – also among artists, such as here at the large festival hall in Salzburg.
At the center of the yet enjoyable comedy entitled “The Presumption of Innocence” is a famous conductor, his ex-wife and a resourceful journalist. The Austrian-German television film with Ulrich Tukur, Laura de Boer, Marie C. Friedrich and Catrin Striebeck will run on Wednesday (September 8th, 8:15 pm) on Das Erste.
“If we run the risk of someone running into danger” – with these words the stage master Schani Karas (Robert Stadlober) unceremoniously interrupts an orchestral rehearsal for “Don Giovanni”, much to the displeasure of the opera director David Roth (great: Simon Schwarz).
A little later he completely freaks out and has to be led away – Beate Zierau takes over his job (great: Catrin Striebeck). She agrees, although she has to work with her former husband, the conductor Marius Atterson (Ulrich Tukur). Although he is celebrated for his work, he shows a merciless overestimation of himself – and above all he is a rather tactless man with a baton.
Several women feel this at once – from the reporter Franziska Fink (Marie C. Friedrich) to the PR assistant Ada Lubovsky (Daniela Golpashin) to the young conductor Karina Samus (Laura de Boer), who was Atterson’s master class student and is now his is pregnant. The three women team up to finally capture him using a trap with a hidden camera.
Beate Zierau, who acts as vainly and power-consciously as he does, still has an account to be taken with him because he dared not even mention her in his autobiography.
The author and director Michael Sturminger himself staged at the Salzburg Festival (most recently “Jedermann” with Lars Eidinger) and was able to shoot at original locations.
The oh-so-flattering, but unflattering seducer Atterson quickly has an abuse affair (#MeToo) on his neck. But the three women do not remain entirely innocent either – they resort to unfair means in order to be able to really assert themselves against the “womanizer” who is respected in many places.
The excited opera business is excellently taken for a ride, you can see intrigues and revenge games, vanity and wickedness, even a dominant conductor mother (very fine: Christine Ostermayer) is called up. The artistic director gives funny speeches (“Art comes out of the crisis and knows no compromises”), but otherwise likes to turn a blind eye to reality, which in turn has the energetic festival president firmly in view.
Ulrich Tukur plays the charming and unscrupulous long-term flirtatious man with some grandeur – but in view of the strong female ranks in the film, he has a visibly difficult time, his character literally gets away with a black eye. After all, the young conductor can finally make her debut at the premiere. dpa
