The pair of investigators in ‘Dark Water’ investigate a suspected suicide in the Austrian Alps. Or perhaps it was murder after all?
The crime thriller ‘Dark Water’ explores an alleged suicide. Or was it murder? Photo: Philine Hofmann/ZDF
Everything could have been so beautiful for the young lovers. The Austrian Alps in sight, the boat on the idyllic Mattsee, but then a corpse appears in the water and that destroys all romance.
That’s a shame, especially for the murder victim, 17-year-old, not-so-well-packed and burdened student Elena. The arrival of the visibly upset Chief Inspector Rafael Dorner (Christoph Luser) also does not go well, as he trips over it towards the corpse and, in his less than fit for work condition, also has to take care of Franziska Burgstaller, the victim’s wife. mother.
Because it is also clear to his superiors that Dorner will not be able to lead the investigation in this mentally unstable state, which is due to the suicide of his former colleague, she appoints the young inspector Alex Fink (Salka Weber) to his side.
Dorner is not very enthusiastic about this surveillance and does everything he can to keep Fink away from the case, because: He himself is closely connected to the history of the place and maintains a family relationship with the family of the first suspect, namely Lukas Schober (Nikolaus Lessky), friend of the murder victim.
The issue of femicide was swept aside
The Schobers are one of the most important and solvent families in the city, and Dorner – as patriarch Viktor (Erwin Steinhauer) always emphasizes – is “one of them.” And dear Lukas is such a sensitive boy, it couldn’t have been him.
Fink’s notes on the The subject of femicide are brushed aside with a smile and the rest is then handled by the mother or a lawyer. You should be rich, life would be so much easier! But unfortunately, all the Schober family’s money won’t bring Lukas’ girlfriend Elena back either.
For Dorner, completely different research approaches arise: he suspects the fat plate and also Drug dealer Max “Kosy” Kozak (Thomas Mraz), who likes to party with underage girls. However, an interrogation of Kosy, peppered with wild insults, has an unexpected outcome and raises the question that wanders through the city with Dorner all the time: is the chief inspector, with all his anger, still on the right side and can he objectively deal with the situation?
Lone wolf
It becomes increasingly clear to his colleague Fink, who initially looked at him with slightly mocking interest: the inspector is a danger to himself and the people around him, and he is much, much deeper into the case than he wants or can admit. Finally, the old country doctor, Dr. Siebert (Peter Mitterrutzner). He chronologically documented the place’s dark Nazi past, the social aftermath of which is still palpable in today’s family structures.
In this tense rural crime thriller, many clues are laid and then thrown away against an aesthetically staged natural backdrop. What is particularly striking, however, is the nuanced acting of Salka Weber, who gives her character Inspector Alex Fink wonderful depth and thus forms a pleasant counterpart to her colleague.
He’s also believably portrayed, but he’s just the traumatized lone wolf detective we’ve seen so often. All in all, a film by directors Arash and Arman Riahi that is worth seeing, but the ending leaves open the question of whether this research team can continue.