Crime scene: chocolate bars
Did you succeed in breaking through the fourth wall?
The inspectors Isabelle Grandjean (Anna Pieri Zuercher, r.) And Tessa Ott (Carol Schuler) in the "Tatort: Schoggilänke".
© ARD Degeto / SRF / Daniel Winkler
Breaking the fourth wall vs. the 80s plot. Is the "Tatort: Chocolate Bar" a successful combination or rather a failed symbiosis?
Isabelle Grandjean (Anna Pieri Zuercher, 42) and Tessa Ott (Carol Schuler, 34) investigate the murder of a wealthy chocolate manufacturer in the second Zurich "Tatort: Schoggliänke" and break through the fourth wall to the audience several times. The plot, however, is a classic-looking crime thriller, the basic principle of which could also have been a "Derrick" episode from the 80s: Murder in the best house, but abysses open up behind the perfect facade of a model family. Successful, boring or even unsuccessful?
This is what the "crime scene: chocolate bars" is all about
Entrepreneur Hans-Konrad Chevalier is found dead in a villa – killed and shot. The brutal approach suggests a relationship act. The murdered man ran a renowned chocolate factory – together with his daughter Claire (Elisa Plüss, 32). The investigations lead the profiler Tessa Ott back to her roots, the posh residential area on the Zürichberg. In this area of the super-rich everyone could lead a happy "Schoggilabe" (a chocolate life). But appearances are deceptive. Apparently the company boss Chevalier was depressed and suicidal.
His homosexuality was never accepted by his own family. His mother Mathilde (Sibylle Brunner, 81) obviously never thought much of her gay son. After his murder, she is now pushing back to the top of the company. Past granddaughter Claire, who works day and night in the company and wants to succeed her father. However, the company has been in the red for a long time. Claire's dubious fiance (Urs Jucker) takes advantage of the messy situation.
At the same time, Claire disappears a conflicting will from her father. The commissioners realize that a power struggle is raging at "Chocolat Chevalier". Was the murdered patron his first victim? The investigation is difficult. There is every indication that the housekeeper Esmeralda Rivera (Isabelle Stoffel, 48) witnessed the crime.
Is it worth switching on?
The reviews were almost consistently positive after the first outing of the new Swiss team last year. Unfortunately, the investigators cannot confirm this first good impression. The actual criminal case is hardly captivating and there is no tension at all. And the actually interesting stories behind the policewomen are only touched upon and hardly exude esprit.
The surreal setting, including bizarre outfits and futuristic furnishings, cannot hide this. The multiple breaking through of the fourth wall à la "House of Cards" and Co. also does not appear to be fluidly integrated, but like an out of place stylistic device and thus a pure end in itself. That is much better and one can only hope that this Swiss "crime scene" will remain an outlier.