New series “Funeral for a Dog”
Visually stunning love triangle based on a bestseller template
Friedrich Mücke (left), Alina Tomnikov and Albert Schuch in “Funeral for a Dog”.
© © Sky/Flare Entertainment GmbH/Alex Kroke
The Sky Original “Funeral for a Dog” can be seen from March 17th. What does the series adaptation of Thomas Pletzinger’s debut novel promise?
Under the English title “Funeral for a Dog”, the debut novel “Bestattung eines Hunds” by author Thomas Pletzinger (47) will soon find its way onto the screens. To be more precise, from March 17 on Sky Atlantic (every Thursday from 8.15 p.m. in double episodes) and the entire series on Sky Ticket and Sky Q on demand. But what is it about the bestseller, which sounds as cryptic as it is tragic, now as an eight-part Sky Original directed by David Dietl (43) and Barbara Albert (51)? Here are the answers.
The search for truth and oneself – that’s what it’s all about
Journalist Daniel Mandelkern (Albrecht Schuch, 36) seems to get an everyday job. He is to meet with the successful novelist Mark Svensson (Friedrich Mücke, 41) to write a portrait of the man. When he accidentally meets the Finn Tuuli Kovero (Alina Tomnikov, 33) on the trip and thus encounters a character from Svensson’s book in real life, he is irritated: how much reality is there in the novel?
Together they travel on to Svensson at Lake Orta. There Daniel learns that Svensson’s childhood friend Felix Blaumeiser (Daniel Sträßer, 35) is no longer alive. An important character from the novel is missing – and Daniel’s curiosity is aroused. The deeper he penetrates into the author’s past, the more he is drawn into the mysterious story of the great love of three people – and also has to ask himself painful questions about his own life.
The story within the story
“You didn’t understand anything. Your life is just as torn and twisted as mine,” Mücke’s character brings Schuch’s character back down to earth in one scene. That sums up Pletzinger’s 350-page novel, which can now be seen in eight episodes of around 45 minutes each. “Funeral for a Dog” tells a complex relationship drama. An intricate story that allows its protagonists to be taken to the most remote places on earth over a period of two decades. From the wilderness of South America to the Arctic Circle and even to the epicenter of the 9/11 tragedy in New York City.
As with Mandelkern, the uncertainty gnaws at the back of the viewer’s mind as to what is reality and invention, autobiographical or fictional. Comparable to how “The Ghost Writer” and “Nocturnal Animals” (both thrillers), “Grand Budapest Hotel” (comedy) or “Big Fish” (fantasy) have already done in film and other genres.
In short: a captivating mystery that promises unforeseen twists and turns as well as powerful images. With its promising cast, the central themes of love, guilt and loss are dealt with. And the hope conveys, late, but not too late, to be able to find happiness.