Content / Criticism
Attorney Joachim Vernau (Jan Josef Liefers) is about to reach the top of Berlin society. After all, he is married to Sigrun Zernikow (Natalia Woerner), descendant of a very wealthy and influential family. Her father Utz (Matthias Habich) has even decided to take his future son-in-law into his law firm. But before that can happen, an older woman turns up one day and demands to speak to Utz. Vernau fobs her off, but asks his old college friend, the lawyer Marie-Luise Hoffmann (Stefanie Stappenbeck) to translate the letter written in Russian that the woman has with her and for which she wants a signature. When the stranger is found dead a short time later, Vernau suspects a connection – especially since the letter contains a terrible accusation …
Fighting the past
Jan Josef Liefers and crime novels? Sure, most people are primarily interested in the crime scene After all, the films about the Münster team, in which Liefers plays the arrogant forensic doctor Karl-Friedrich Boerne, are regularly among the most watched in the series. One sometimes forgets that the actor also plays the leading role in a second crime series. The stories about Attorney Vernau quite popular. The last two works in the series – Düstersee and Sunken graves – attracted 7.3 million and 6.5 million viewers respectively. This is lower than the parts of the rival series, but is quite a lot in itself. And The Nanny” with which Vernau had made his debut eleven years earlier, was in this range.
The opening already introduces essential elements that will also be seen in the following years. For example, colleague Hoffmann is there from the beginning. The same applies to Vernau’s mother Hildegard (Elisabeth Schwarz) and her friend Hüthchen (Carmen Maja Antoni), even though they don’t really play a role in the first film. Much more important is the Zernikow family, who will not appear again later, but are the focus of the action here. And that in two respects: The nanny tells how a shared future is torpedoed by a past that suddenly resurfaces. The protagonist suddenly has to deal with a family history that is not his but that still affects him if he is to become part of it. Can he enter into a lifelong commitment with Sigrun without knowing what happened?
Important topic, boring film
Often, when the main character is personally affected by a case, such connections are a rather clumsy attempt to create tension and force emotion. The nanny But it works reasonably well. Firstly, it is the first film in the series. Where, for example, Murder in Midsummer For several seasons, the inspector’s love interest had to be integrated in an increasingly grotesque way, this is the first time that Vernau investigates at all. This doesn’t really make him a detective. The lawyer does investigate the case, but tries to do so by confronting the family. Beyond that, not much happens, the crime story is modest.
Unfortunately, the content is not really interesting either. Although the screenwriter Elisabeth Herrmannwho adapted her own novel of the same name, tries to tell a very important story. However, it is one that we have heard in this form many times before. Surprises are just as scarce as interesting characters. Irene Freifrau von Zernikow (Inge Keller), matriarch of the influential clan, is nothing more than a caricature. Not even Vernau himself is exciting, the lawyer is very pale in comparison to Liefers’ star role. Overall, The nannydespite a good cast and a relevant topic, therefore less desire for further films.
Credits
OT: “The Nanny”
Land: Deutschland
Year: 2012
Director: Carlo Rola
Script: Elisabeth Herrmann
Template: Elisabeth Herrmann
Music: Wolfram of Marco
Camera: Frank Kuepper
Occupation: Jan Josef Liefers, Stefanie Stappenbeck, Natalia Wörner, Matthias Habich, Inge Keller, Chulpan Khamatova, Johannes Allmayer, Inés Burdow
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