With a new crime series on Thursday, the ARD dares to go to the dark side. The figures are nuanced, but the scene resolutions are sometimes inelegant.
The celebration of Rauhnacht is based on old superstitions. For Shakespeare in “Twelfth Night” – in German “What you want” – the occasion for a comedy, for screenwriter Timo Berndt the backdrop of a dark crime novel. In picturesque Ribe, Denmark’s oldest city according to its own advertising, the farewell to the demons of winter is celebrated as a high-spirited costume party and with plenty of alcohol.
There is commotion and hectic at the police station. Police officer Ida Sörensen (Marlene Morreis) is on duty. She is on her own, has to record ads in the midst of the raging hustle and bustle, answer calls, and prevent a small dealer from attempting to escape.
The sight of the young woman with the red-rimmed eyes and the bloodied lips cannot shake her. On this evening, many people were made up and masked scary. But one of the demons is real – a murderer who mingled with the celebrants. Only on the next day does Ida Sörensen find out that Smilla Vestergaard (Anne Kanis), who she dealt with in a friendly but brief manner, is missing. A photo of her hangs in sight in the guard room. A witness claims to have seen that she was abducted after leaving the station. For the second time?
“The Denmark crime thriller: Rauhnächte” (ARD): A thriller with noir touches
Commissioner Olsen (Katharina Heyer) from the superordinate agency is already on hold when Sörensen appears unsuspecting on duty the next day. A whistle is waiting for her to bring tears to her eyes. And, as she has to admit, rightly so. The greater her guilty conscience. And the desire to make amends for the misfortune.
Smilla Vestergaard isn’t the only woman who mysteriously disappeared. The missing, including a man, were found dead. Starved and thirsty, chained to a stake. There is a serial offender in the region.
Sörensen’s sixth sense tells her that Vestergaard is still alive. She takes part in the investigation, risks various solo attempts and is always offensive. But she gets closer to the perpetrator. At first without knowing it. If a “Denmark crime thriller” had been commissioned a few years ago by the ARD production and purchasing company Degeto, then it would most likely have happened like this: in a permanently sunny Copenhagen, with frequent cuts to the little mermaid, the Nyhavn, den Tivoli. In the meantime, however, the Degeto crime novels are no longer so easily identifiable because they are no longer as lightweight as the series produced under the previous direction.
New crime series on ARD
“The Denmark crime thriller: Rauhnächte” with Tim Bergmann will run on Thursday, October 14th, 2021 at 8:15 pm on ARD.
Desaturated and cool colors have found their way, noir paints, sinister content. It is only through failure that Ida Sörensen has the ambition to solve a current criminal case. She does not stand above things, like some deductively gifted cheerful natures or gun virtuosos who have been washed with all kinds of aftershaves. The creative crisis of her partner (Tim Bergmann) and his depressive behavior have an impact on her professional life. She is quick to lose her temper, jump to conclusions, and is vulnerable. But she fights her weaknesses, and her stubbornness turns out to be strength in the end.
“The Denmark crime thriller: Rauhnächte” on ARD: the staging leaves a lot to be desired
One of the advantages of this new crime series is that the main character was not reduced to a few easy-to-reproduce character traits by screenwriter Timo Berndt. It remains to be seen whether this ambivalence can be maintained in subsequent films. Just like the wind-ruffled dune landscape of Ribe, which is particularly appealing because of its barreness, was brought into play comprehensively and is probably no longer an option as a further location for the time being. It will be interesting to see what – and whom – there is still to be discovered in the region.
It’s just a shame that the staging leaves a lot to be desired. Indoor shots appear in an unnatural light, and once a figure flits through the dark, dark forest, in which strong spotlights have been set up to brighten the background. Such moments can be put into the picture more elegantly. (Harald Keller)
