Das Paar im Kahn

Das Paar im Kahn is a 2004 Swiss German language television film that was filmed and produced at locations in Basel respectively in Switzerland and in France. It is the first film of the six-episode serial starring Mathias Gnädinger as Kommissär Hunkeler.^[2]

Cast

• Mathias Gnädinger as Kommissär Reto Hunkeler
• Gilles Tschudi as Kommissar Madörin
• Andrea Bettini as
• Urs Bihler as Dr. Beat Spälti
• Baris Eren as
• Jürg Löw as Staatsanwalt Suter
• Caroline Rasser as
• Tom Ryser as
• Marc Schmassmann as Korporal Lüdi
• Sophie Scholz as
• Pasquale Voggenhuber as
• Emanuela von Frankenberg as Anne de Ville
• Mäni Weber as
• Pia Weibel as
• Lale Yavas as Türkan Yavas
• Birol Tarkan Yildiz as Konsul

Plot

Reto Hunkeler (Mathias Gnädinger) is Kommissär (inspector) of the Basel Police, and reflects his impending retirement. In fact his boss, (prosecuting attorney) Staatsanwalt Suter, has already written him off and sends Hunkeler to Alsace to research a study about youth crime, but he prefers to spend his time at the local spa. In the meanwhile, Aische Aydin, a Swiss from Turkish origin, is found slain in her apartment in Basel. Her husband Ali Aydin is suspected, but he keeps silent, and even attempts suicide. Hunkeler's ambitious young colleage Madörin has made investigations and arrested the victim’s husband. Back in Basel, Hunkeler is assailed by doubts, and finds an amulet in the apartment – representing a couple in a boat – that attracts his attention. Hunkeler has encountered such an amulet when he met Roma families in the neighbouring Alsace in France. Acquaintances of Aydin confirm that the amulet belonged to Aische. Shortly afterwards, the heroin addict Theo, the ex-husband of a friend of Aische, is found murdered, and the police assumes a drug delict as there is a greater amount of heroin. Aydin now is also associated by the police with drug trafficking. Advised by his lawyer, Ali still keeps silent. Hunkeler contacts a Roma girl in Alsace: Zarah lost the amulet and observed the murder from a hiding place. Hunkeler brings her for a comparison to Basel, but first she has to be surveyed by the youth advocate. Theo's killer continues to search for the missing material and can be arrested there. Now Ali is talking about: He had been forced by the mob to courier services, but his wife had hidden the goods. Fearing reprisals, he had been reluctant to satisfy the desire of his wife Aische, and to bring their children to Switzerland. Zarah identifies the perpetrators of the Mafiosi, not Ali, but points to Shirley, Ali's lawyer. Shirley admits to have slain Aische in the dispute. She had sought her advice, because she necessarily wanted to have their children in Switzerland. Aische liked San Esteban, but he wanted more from her then friendship. After Shirley had learned a lot about the background, he tried to blackmail Aische. As she still rejected him, he went berserk and thereby became the killer.

Title

The title of the film derives from the German term meaning Hunkeler and the couple in the boat, and refers to the amulet that Hunkeler found.

Production

The television film is the first episode of six films about Kommissär Hunkeler starring Mathias Gnädinger, which were produced for the Swiss television SF DRS between 2004 and 2012 (Hunkeler und die Augen des Ödipus). The Swiss German language movie bases on the 1999 novel Das Paar im Kahn by Hansjörg Schneider,^[3] and was filmed at locations in Basel and Alsace in France.

Mathias Gnädinger, in his early years a stage actor at the Theater Neumarkt at Neumarkt, Zürich, died on 3 April 2015,^[4] hence the Hunkeler serial comprises six films in all.

Reception

Das Paar im Kahn premierred at 10e Cinéma tout écran at Geneva in Switzerland in October 2004 and at the 40th Solothurn Film Festival in January 2005.^[1] The film was repeatedly broadcast in the Swiss television, for the last time on 2 May 2015 on SRF 1.^[5]

tvspielfilm claims, Swiss adaption of Maigret.^[6]

Festivals

• 2004: 10e Cinéma tout écran - Festival international du film et de la télévision at Geneva.^[1]
• 2005: Solothurn Film Festival.^[1]

References

External links

• Das Paar im Kahn at the Internet Movie Database