The story here is quite far fetched, with much too many coincidences. After living a happy childhood with adoptive parents, a young American woman searching for her biological father in Berlin, Germany lands in the middle of a murder mystery (as a suspect, of course). The suspected birth father is a middle aged German doctor, who neither denies nor confirms the possibility of paternity. Determined to clear herself of the murder charges, both she and the doctor abruptly set out following tracks leading to his old US Ivy League University Campus, to reminisce with a clique of elite students and their wild days of wine, women and song.
It's a formula love triangle among upper class intellectuals, complete with jealousies, betrayals and old scores to be settled. It is rather annoying that, although half of the story is set in the USA, with minimal effort to adapt to the English speaking Americans, the American characters are all assumed to be fluent speakers of German. Germans pride themselves on their ability to communicate in English, but Americans are unlikely to spontaneously converse with foreigners in German. This could have been handled more realistically! Add a side story about old lovers rekindling their flame after 60 years of marriage to other people (of course happening just now, and involving the same two cities, one in the USA, the other "home" in Berlin), and one must look at this story with an extreme sense of suspended disbelief. It just couldn't happen in 10,000 years!
The lead character also plays a team member on the very popular Tatort (Muenster) TV series. His role in this TV movie is virtually identical to that of "Dr. Boerne" in the Tatort series. In other words, there is no change at all in his acting. That alone is unfortunate, but the fact that this story is forgettable, makes the viewing experience even more of a disappointment. Skip this one, it's not worth your time!
It's a formula love triangle among upper class intellectuals, complete with jealousies, betrayals and old scores to be settled. It is rather annoying that, although half of the story is set in the USA, with minimal effort to adapt to the English speaking Americans, the American characters are all assumed to be fluent speakers of German. Germans pride themselves on their ability to communicate in English, but Americans are unlikely to spontaneously converse with foreigners in German. This could have been handled more realistically! Add a side story about old lovers rekindling their flame after 60 years of marriage to other people (of course happening just now, and involving the same two cities, one in the USA, the other "home" in Berlin), and one must look at this story with an extreme sense of suspended disbelief. It just couldn't happen in 10,000 years!
The lead character also plays a team member on the very popular Tatort (Muenster) TV series. His role in this TV movie is virtually identical to that of "Dr. Boerne" in the Tatort series. In other words, there is no change at all in his acting. That alone is unfortunate, but the fact that this story is forgettable, makes the viewing experience even more of a disappointment. Skip this one, it's not worth your time!
