On December 8th, Jasna Fritzi Bauer and Luise Wolfram investigate in “Tatort: Silent Night”. How political can a crime scene be? The actresses answer this in the interview.
It’s Christmas. Jasna Fritzi Bauer and Luise Wolfram sit at the station as “Tatort” detectives Liv Moormann and Linda Selb and play Christmas bullshit bingo. Until they get the news that a family father has been found dead. Suspects include family members and a guest the family welcomed on Christmas Eve. It is a “crime scene” that deals with racial profiling and family secrets. The actresses explain in an interview with t-online why this “Tatort” episode is political.
t-online: Does the police in Germany have a problem with racial profiling?
Jasna Fritzi Bauer: Yes definitely. I have many friends who are Afro-German or German-Asian who are approached by the police more often than I am. Racial profiling does exist and, in my opinion, it is carried out briskly in Germany.
Luise Wolfram: Yes. You could also examine racial profiling in an even more extreme way and dedicate an entire “crime scene” case to the topic.
So does the crime scene have to become more political?
Bauer: There are already many political crime scenes. I think if you’re too political you lose viewers. They want to switch off and don’t feel like watching the next political highlight at 8:15 p.m. on Sunday. But it is important that the “Tatort” films are political. It is also the social mission of public television.
Wolfram: Exactly, that’s the order. You can make political films in 1,000 different ways, and the smallest private messages are sometimes political. The “crime scene” is seen by many millions of people on Sundays. This is, so to speak, a responsibility.
The “Tatort: Silent Night” also deals with the topics Depression and suicide – have you had any contact with this yourself?
Wolfram: In my private life I have had contact with depression, even in all the extreme forms it can take.
How important is it that such topics take place on television?
Wolfram: Very. But in complete diversity: depression is often not recognized, there are differences between the sexes in the symptoms, in everything. Television should always reflect what is happening in society as a whole.
Compared to other cities, the Bremen “crime scene” is one where a lot of women are in front of the camera standsome behind it too. Does that make a difference when turning?
Wolfram: Yes, it makes a big difference. When I started my career, it was an entirely male-dominated environment. But I didn’t question that. I now know how different the atmosphere can be and how important it is that work processes are not dominated by one gender.
Why is the atmosphere on set different?
Bauer: It’s not that men always run a reign of terror. But women understand each other differently. You have a different basic energy on set and a different basic understanding of a lot of things. It is sometimes smarter to leave the staging of women to a woman.
Bauer: Because women understand how a woman works. Unfortunately, a man can’t do that. He will never be able to. This is the problem of gender. Women aren’t that good at putting themselves in men’s shoes, but perhaps better than men at putting themselves in women’s shoes.
Wolfram: As a different gender, you have a different view, a different distance, different impressions, experiences and a different life story. All of this flows into the work.
How much do you reveal about yourself in the roles?
