In the Eberhof crime thriller “Rehragout-Rendezvous”, the village policeman Franz Eberhofer has an erotic crisis. Actor Sebastian Bezzel explains.
As the new deputy mayor, Susi (Lisa Maria Potthoff, 45) wants to seduce her Franz (Sebastian Bezzel, 52) in the police office of the town hall – but he has a problem with it… and that leads to the new Eberhof crime thriller “Rehragout-Rendezvous” ( Theatrical release: August 10) to a veritable erotic crisis with Niederkaltenkirchen’s village policeman.
In an interview with spot on news, actor Sebastian Bezzel (51) finds impressively clear words on this topic, which is rather unpleasant for many men, in the ninth edition of the cult series. “I think it’s a really great topic. That’s one of the examples why I like the Eberhofer series so much. What’s actually a very serious topic – if you can’t get it up, it’s usually a problem in your head – is presented in a comedic way .”
Sebastian Bezzel: Eberhofer “you always have to force your luck”
In order to explain the “problem in the head” in Franz Eberhofer’s case, the actor goes deeper into his psyche: “Eberhofer is a person who hates change. He wants everything to stay the way it was: his grandma, his Pigsty, the clothes… In the books and films it is said that his mother died giving birth to him. So his reluctance to change has a serious background,” says Bezzel.
And this is where Eberhofer’s long-time partner and mother of their son Paul comes into play: “Of course, Susi drives it crazy. That’s one of the major burdens in their relationship. She understands life as a process, it goes on and at some point she just doesn’t want to be in it anymore living in a pigsty. And because he doesn’t produce anything at all, you always have to force him to be happy, for example to build a new house in front of the house,” says Bezzel, summing up the deadlocked relationship pattern between the two in the previous films.
In “Rehragout-Rendezvous” there is a drastic change: “And now Susi, as deputy mayor, just gets the chance to create something. She develops a certain ambition, which is also good,” says the Eberhofer Actor. Incidentally, the crime comedy also tells “a nice story about reforms and the reform backlog in Germany,” says Bezzel and explains: “With us [in den Eberhoferkrimis] a younger and even younger, female person just comes to the helm. But of course everything is done by the old white men to reverse that. So that everything always stays the way it used to be.” That is a typical German problem. “And the fact that the Eberhofer can’t get anyone up now doesn’t have a problem as a man, but as a partner whose partner hurries away from him,” he concludes together.
Chaos on the Eberhofer farm – what about Sebastian Bezzel’s household management qualities?
Another running gag in the film is the household management on the Eberhofer farm, which collapses completely because grandma (Enzi Fuchs, 86) is on strike. In such a case, how would it look at Sebastian Bezzel’s home? “Of course, this chaos that breaks out at the Eberhofer-Hof would not exist in my home. I lived alone for a long time and can clean. I know how to use a vacuum cleaner. And not only that, I can also see when it will be used again should be,” he says.
The family man, who lives with his wife, actress Johanna Christine Gehlen (53, “There’s nothing there”), and their two children in Hamburg, explains: “It certainly wouldn’t be perfect – it doesn’t have to be – but it would be civil and humane for the children. And we wouldn’t have mice on the windowsill.”
In fact, the actor knows not only household, but also cooking. Has he perhaps even cooked an Eberhofer dish – steamed dumplings, potato dumplings, semolina dumplings, sauerkraut, etc.? “I’ve already made semolina dumpling soup or roast pork. But I don’t use the Eberhofer thriller for that, I use the recipes from my mum or grandma,” says the native of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, not without pride.
Ten years of Eberhofer crime film adaptations
With “Dampfnudelblues” (2013), the first film adaptation of the crime comedy by Rita Falk (59) was released in cinemas ten years ago. Sebastian Bezzel, who already had his first career as a Lake Constance “Tatort” star (2004-2016) before the cult films, owes a lot to the Eberhofer series, “a lot” even. “My professional life has developed in a completely different direction thanks to the Eberhofer thrillers. I’ve had great encounters, got to know crazy people in the best sense of the word and was in unbelievable situations – which I certainly have to thank for this series,” he confirms.
However, the surprise success hasn’t gone to his head and there are two good reasons for that: “I don’t think the series or the success of the Eberhofer crime film adaptations has changed me much. Simon [Schwarz, 52, Rolle: Rudi Birkenberger] and I was well over 40 when it all started. At 42 – that’s when the first Eberhofer came into the cinema – you are no longer thrown off course by such a surprise success. I already had children,” says Bezzel. In addition, his wife is also an actress and was therefore able to classify the matter well. “As a family, we were just very happy about what happened to us,” he remembers.