"Tatort" in the check Can you feign insanity when committing a crime?
Rosa Herzog (Stefanie Reinsperger) and Peter Faber (Jörg Hartmann) spend a lot of time in the villa of the industrialist family Heyden in "Tatort: Made in China". Strange things happen there.
Image: WDR/Thomas Kost
Did Vanessa Heyden (Klara Lange) murder her father? The evidence and clues suggest that she did, but the young woman suffers from amnesia and can't remember anything. The body is also missing.
Image: WDR/Thomas Kost
On Boxing Day, Dortmund Chief Inspector Peter Faber (Jörg Hartmann) investigates a murder case without a body. Because Christmas is the festival of traditions, there is a lot of fan service in "Tatort: Made in China".
Image: WDR/Thomas Kost
Sophia Heyden (Marie-Lou Sellem) is a widow-to-be, as she has a somewhat unusual marriage to Jo Heyden, who has disappeared without a trace. But why does the industrialist heiress seem so confident? Is she herself a suspect?
Image: WDR/Thomas Kost
Christmas guessing game: Rosa Herzog (Stefanie Reinsperger) and Peter Faber (Jörg Hartmann) have to deal with an extremely twisty case in Dortmund's "Tatort: Made in China".
Image: WDR/Martin Rottenkolber
Ira Klasni? (Alessija Lause), who was introduced in the last Dortmund "Tatort: Cash" almost a year ago, is now in charge of the homicide squad. And she is definitely a boss with hair on her teeth, as former boss Faber (Jörg Hartmann) finds out.
Image: WDR/Martin Rottenkolber
KTU head Sebastian Haller (Tillmann Strauss) is given a lot of space in the new Dortmund case. This is partly because the analysis of the crime scene - where the body is missing - is complex, but also because the old enmity between Faber and Haller is once again eloquently celebrated.
Image: WDR/Martin Rottenkolber
Stephan Heyden (Francis Fulton-Smith) is the typical corporate patriarch. He is not on too good terms with his relative by marriage, Jo Heyden, who has now disappeared.
Image: WDR/Thomas Kost
Who is the mysterious Chen Bo (Yun Huang) from Shanghai and what is she looking for near the Heyden mansion?
Image: WDR/Thomas Kost
Rosa Herzog (Stefanie Reinsperger) and Peter Faber (Jörg Hartmann) spend a lot of time in the villa of the industrialist family Heyden in "Tatort: Made in China". Strange things happen there.
Image: WDR/Thomas Kost
Did Vanessa Heyden (Klara Lange) murder her father? The evidence and clues suggest that she did, but the young woman suffers from amnesia and can't remember anything. The body is also missing.
Image: WDR/Thomas Kost
On Boxing Day, Dortmund Chief Inspector Peter Faber (Jörg Hartmann) investigates a murder case without a body. Because Christmas is the festival of traditions, there is a lot of fan service in "Tatort: Made in China".
Image: WDR/Thomas Kost
Sophia Heyden (Marie-Lou Sellem) is a widow-to-be, as she has a somewhat unusual marriage to Jo Heyden, who has disappeared without a trace. But why does the industrialist heiress seem so confident? Is she herself a suspect?
Image: WDR/Thomas Kost
Christmas guessing game: Rosa Herzog (Stefanie Reinsperger) and Peter Faber (Jörg Hartmann) have to deal with an extremely twisty case in Dortmund's "Tatort: Made in China".
Image: WDR/Martin Rottenkolber
Ira Klasni? (Alessija Lause), who was introduced in the last Dortmund "Tatort: Cash" almost a year ago, is now in charge of the homicide squad. And she is definitely a boss with hair on her teeth, as former boss Faber (Jörg Hartmann) finds out.
Image: WDR/Martin Rottenkolber
KTU head Sebastian Haller (Tillmann Strauss) is given a lot of space in the new Dortmund case. This is partly because the analysis of the crime scene - where the body is missing - is complex, but also because the old enmity between Faber and Haller is once again eloquently celebrated.
Image: WDR/Martin Rottenkolber
Stephan Heyden (Francis Fulton-Smith) is the typical corporate patriarch. He is not on too good terms with his relative by marriage, Jo Heyden, who has now disappeared.
Image: WDR/Thomas Kost
Who is the mysterious Chen Bo (Yun Huang) from Shanghai and what is she looking for near the Heyden mansion?
Image: WDR/Thomas Kost
The "Tatort: Made in China" with Faber and Herzog offers witty dialog, crazy allegations - and no corpse. But Christmas cheer and the question: Can you really fake insanity?
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- There's no corpse this time in Dortmund's Christmas "Tatort", but plenty of insights into dysfunctional families.
- Faber (Jörg Hartmann) and Herzog (Stefanie Reinsperger) investigate the case of a woman who claims to have murdered a man. From then on, the clues lead to an industrialist dynasty.
- In the end, much revolves around alleged insanity. What is the reality of insanity? Can it really be faked?
A thriller without a corpse is something to look forward to at Christmas, the festival of love. Especially as it tells of different forms of family love.
In "Tatort: Made in China", the Dortmund team of Faber (Jörg Hartmann) and Herzog (Stefanie Reinsperger), who have shrunk to a duo following the death of Bönisch (Anna Schudt) and the departure of Pawlak (Rick Okon), have to deal with parents and families that are not really functional.
Faber's recovered father is a nursing home resident with dementia. Herzog's mother is a silent RAF terrorist in prison. Things are hardly any less colorful in one of Dortmund's finer families, the Haiden steel barons.
Here, the father is a hallodrider who delivered secrets to China - and everyone except the Biedermann cousin (Francis Fulton-Smith) loves the disloyal man anyway. Christmas also means forgiveness!
But can it really be that the daughter of the steel juggler was able to credibly simulate his murder in front of psychiatric specialists?
What was it all about?
A young woman (Klara Lange), mentally disturbed, wanders through an Asian store in Dortmund covered in blood and carrying a knife. After she is caught by the police, Faber and Herzog try to find out who the woman is who claims to have killed a man.
Traces lead to the industrialist family Haiden, an old Dortmund steel dynasty. It could have been the mostly absent husband of the patriarch Sophia Haiden (Marie-Lou Sellem).
Jo Haiden spends a lot of time in China, appears from time to time - and then disappears again. Apparently a wondrous type.
Nevertheless, one who exerts a certain fascination on his family members - with the exception of company boss Stephan Haiden (Francis Fultion-Smith), who apparently hates Jo.
What has actually happened in this strange family? And what does the Chinese secret service have to do with it?
What was it really about?
Director Jobst Christian Oetzmann puts it this way: "Wolfgang Stauch's (screen)book is an invitation to a round dance of witty dialog, outright lies, glorious exposures and absurd allegations."
In fact, the first Dortmund case in almost a year ("Cash") is above all a play on different film genres: espionage thriller, psychiatric mystery and screwball comedy. The latter because of the witty verbal battles that run through the film.
However, the contemplative part of the story, which is well suited to Christmas, is the message contained in the subtext: family can look and feel very different.
Maybe your mother is a terrorist, your father has dementia or he secretly had several families. Nevertheless, as children we can forgive all of this, provided there are signs of genuine love from the "strange" parents.
What was the key scene?
Although "Tatort" was filmed in the late summer and early fall of 2023, it is fitting that it is being shown a good year later at Christmas. It tells a message of charity that - almost like a fairy tale - even affects the police.
Herzog and boss Ira Klasnić (Alessija Lause) convince Faber to simply let the Haidens go despite the pretense of a crime. In the interests of family peace.
"It's actually a good thing," says Herzog, "when a family sticks together despite all the shit. When you forgive each other." Faber responds: "Sorry, Ms. Herzog, we're the police, we're not Pro Familia."
In the end, the empathetic women overrule Faber and let the Haidens go. Which means: the police take the blame - and get bad press for free. The manhunt for a murderer who doesn't exist is dropped.
Is it possible to feign insanity?
In the movie, the investigators track down the duo of sisters who only faked their father's murder so that he could go into hiding.
Blood bags, books on acting training and post-traumatic stress disorder as well as medication are found in the secret command center of the crime.
In other words, a set of tools used to prepare for the faked crime. But would it really be possible to convince experts such as psychiatrists that a murder was committed in an unconscious state?
In fact, in our and many other legal systems, there is the state of insanity, which can be triggered by drugs or mental illness and stress factors. People with acting talent and practice may succeed in feigning the characteristics of "automated actions".
But psychiatrists, psychologists and, above all, forensic experts also have their tricks for exposing such schemes.
Could you get away with something like this?
In Western legal systems, there is the principle of "no punishment without guilt". According to the German Criminal Code, to which the fictitious "crime scene" act would apply, a perpetrator acts without guilt if he is incapable of recognizing the wrongfulness of the act or acting on this insight due to a pathological mental disorder, a profound disturbance of consciousness, feeble-mindedness or another serious mental abnormality when committing the act. If charges are brought, it is ultimately a matter of convincing a court.
Whether an "unconscious act" exists in the sense of case law would have to be clearly proven. Many factors, including the life and medical history of the accused person, would be examined in detail.
In other words, many experts would take a very close look at a case to determine whether a psychiatric condition is feigned or genuine. Furthermore, even (partial) insanity does not protect against any legal consequences.
How is insanity regulated in this country?
Insanity - nowadays referred to as criminal incompetence - is regulated in Article 19 of the Swiss Criminal Code (SCC). Insanity exists if the perpetrator was incapable of recognizing the wrongfulness of their crime or acting in accordance with this insight at the time of the crime. There is also the possibility of diminished culpability, where the court mitigates the sentence.
But what are the differences between German and Swiss law?
German law lists four specific grounds for incapacity: pathological mental disorder, profound disturbance of consciousness, feeblemindedness and serious other mental abnormality.
Switzerland focuses on general concepts of the capacity to understand and control.
What happens in the "crime scene" from Dortmund?
It's hard to believe, but an inspector who went missing seven years ago returns - at least for one episode: Daniel Kossik (Stefan Konarske) from the Düsseldorf Criminal Police Office supports Faber, Herzig and Klasnić in the case of the accidental death of a clan member's ex.
Angela Herrig, who was run over by an SUV, is the former girlfriend of Lorik Duka (Kasem Hoxha), who is probably carrying a lot of dirt around with him. Did he still have a score to settle with the woman?
The book was written by Dortmund Revier creator Jürgen Werner and directed by Torsten C. Fischer. Filming took place in summer 2024. There is no broadcast date yet for the 26th Dortmund "Tatort".
