Today on ZDF: "The world stands still" – the first corona drama on television

The pandemic drama “The world stands still” (ZDF) with Natalia Wörner is a corona chronicle from the point of view of an intensive care doctor.

Frankfurt – For a long time, television in its films and series pretended that the world was largely okay: the pandemic simply did not take place. This was the case in 2020 because most of the broadcasted productions were made before Corona, but with very few exceptions, masks were only required behind the camera this year.

Last but not least, there were practical reasons for this: Because the regulations have constantly changed, the scripts on ZDF would also have had to be constantly adapted. In-house productions only pay off if they have been repeated as often as possible; So even in a few years, when Covid-19 is hopefully just a memory. Apart from that, television likes to help escape from reality, which is why the broadcasters did not want to bother their audience with Corona in the fictional stories.

“The world stands still”: Tonight the first TV film on ZDF that only revolves around Corona

“The world stands still” is actually the first TV film on ZDF that does not revolve around any other topic; for this reason alone, the project is worthy of all honors. The script by the two-time Grimme Prize winner Dorothee Schön (“Frau Böhm says no”, “The last beautiful day”) describes the everyday pandemic in a hospital. Schön’s “Charité” clinic series already had a quasi-documentary character from a medical and historical point of view. That is even more true here.

The plot of “The world stands still” begins on New Year’s Eve 2019, when no one suspected the chaos that would reign just a few months later. Carolin Mellau (Natalia Wörner) is looking forward to the summer, when the grueling time as an intensive care doctor at the Konstanz Clinic will be behind her; she wants to have more time with her family. But life has other plans: “A tsunami is coming,” her boss fears a few weeks later.

The pictures from Bergamo confirm the gloomy Corona forecast. “Prepare for a war,” a Strasbourg doctor (Nikolai Kinski) warns her colleague in the spring. The Frenchman accompanied a patient to Lake Constance because there were no more ventilation places available in Alsace. In the thriller style of a countdown, fade-ins provide information about how long it will be before the first person in Konstanz will die of the virus.

“The world stands still” (ZDF) with Natalia Wörner: Unadorned description

The ZDF film “The world stands still” is particularly worth seeing because of the unadorned portrayal of the enormous burden on the hospital staff: here the growing tensions because there is too little of everything and constantly improvising, there the desperate efforts to live save. Schön was able to rely on first-hand information: Her daughter works as an intensive care doctor and anesthetist at the Konstanz Clinic. The attempt to depict the side effects of the pandemic as comprehensively as possible has been significantly less successful. In this regard, the script sometimes looks like the author has worked through a checklist.

In the family environment of the doctor, the role designs are plausible: Stefan Mellau (Marcus Mittermeier) is a chamber musician, has to cancel his tour and can ultimately no longer give music lessons. The boyfriend of daughter Luzy (Lilly Barshy) lives in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland, the lovers are now separated by a border fence.

“The world stands still” (ZDF): clichéd corona denier

The figure of the inevitable corona denier, on the other hand, has turned out to be far more clichéd: A neighbor (Klaus Pohl) first considers the virus to be an invention intended to increase Bill Gates’ wealth, then as an Israeli bioweapon. His tirades contain all the catchphrases of corona deniers and vaccination opponents, from “health fascism” to “state media”. A corresponding discussion with the doctor sounds like a typical dispute with a so-called “lateral thinker”, and that is the problem with the film: While the images from the clinic show how much director Anno Saul tried to be authentic, most private conversations have an overpowering effect the pandemic and its consequences academic and artificial.

Much more successful are touching moments like the one when the French woman wakes up from the artificial coma and Carolin has to tell her that her husband did not survive the infection. The idea of showing the doctor not only as a mother but also as a daughter is equally effective: in the hospital she has to turn away the relatives; At the door of the nursing home in which her demented mother lives, it is no different for her. Despite the emotional potential of these scenes, Saul, who in recent years has staged the second “Charité” season in addition to various series of thrillers, remains true to his observational style. This reluctance also applies to the music (Jessica de Rooij), which does not stir up the feelings even more.

“The world stands still” (ZDF) with Natalia Wörner: homage to the staff in the hospitals

Of course, “The world stands still” is not least a tribute to the staff in the hospitals, especially since the prologue leaves no doubt that the doctor will ultimately pay a high price for her commitment. The film was made in spring 2021, Konstanz was in the “lockdown” of the third wave and thus in the same position as twelve months before; perfect conditions for the shooting team, who also captured many beautiful atmospheric pictures of Lake Constance.

Of course, it was not possible to shoot in the clinic; a closed hospital in Weingarten acted as a “double”. The care in the details is also evident musically: composer de Rooij composed a piece for Stefan Mellau and his colleagues; Members of the German Symphony Orchestra Berlin function as a chamber quartet. (Tilmann P. Gangloff)