Der Sandmann (The Sandman, 1995, TV) is a film you're probably never going to see as it's a TV production, and its star Götz George, though (almost) indisputably is one of our best actors, is one you've probably never heard of as he seems to do TV mostly. Why am I still writing about this, then? Well, for what it is, I thought it was pret-ty good.
Ambitious young TV researcher Ina Littmann (portrayed by Karoline Eichhorn with boyish stubbornness) just landed her first big project- to get enigmatic crime writer Kupfer to appear on live TV and research his private life. Kupfer, who's apparently had a tough youth being beaten up by his father and watching his sister kill herself, once spent time in jail for manslaughter and is now making rather decent money writing very successful thrillers with graphic descriptions of criminal bestiality. During her research, Ina cannot help but notice links between Kupfer's life, his character and his mannerisms and a series of brutal murders that have been taking place across the country, in pretty much all the places that Kupfer has visited in recent years...
Sounds a bit cheesy? Certainly is. Like you'd expect from a TV movie, the conflict is established pretty soon (young girl gets sucked deeper and deeper into mysterious older man's dangerous world and is fascinated and appalled at the same time), there are a number of rather convenient twists for our heroine (always in the right place at the right time- how does she do it?!), and there's a few mildly graphic shock moments ("Boobs- oh yes we like'em," the TV producer said).
All this cliché aside, however, this is still a pretty decent film. George (not pronounced like the English first name) is incredibly watchable as Henry Kupfer, going from creepy to pathetic to arrogant bastard (though the latter of which, judging from his TV appearances, may not have involved all much acting). Eichhorn makes for a strong counterpart as a woman who, despite being pushed around and belittled everywhere she goes, is determined to show everyone and make it big in the business.
I do remember seeing the last third of it on TV in the late 1990s, and I did know that there'd be a twist at the end. I was glad my memory didn't serve me quite that well as I didn't quite expect that twist to be what it was. I was expecting something much more graphic and cliché and was pleasantly surprised when the predicted character ended up being victimized, but in a much different way from what I expected. This very ironic ending was very much in line with the criticism of tasteless, ruthless TV voyeurism and the greed that drives it that's present throughout the film, and I thought its last couple of scenes rounded that whole criticism up very nicely and, despite its limited accessibility, made it a film worth writing about.
So, if you ever find yourself tuning into this on German TV, and if you've somehow magically manged to learn German in the meantime, and have nothing better to do of course, this may be worth a try.
Ambitious young TV researcher Ina Littmann (portrayed by Karoline Eichhorn with boyish stubbornness) just landed her first big project- to get enigmatic crime writer Kupfer to appear on live TV and research his private life. Kupfer, who's apparently had a tough youth being beaten up by his father and watching his sister kill herself, once spent time in jail for manslaughter and is now making rather decent money writing very successful thrillers with graphic descriptions of criminal bestiality. During her research, Ina cannot help but notice links between Kupfer's life, his character and his mannerisms and a series of brutal murders that have been taking place across the country, in pretty much all the places that Kupfer has visited in recent years...
Sounds a bit cheesy? Certainly is. Like you'd expect from a TV movie, the conflict is established pretty soon (young girl gets sucked deeper and deeper into mysterious older man's dangerous world and is fascinated and appalled at the same time), there are a number of rather convenient twists for our heroine (always in the right place at the right time- how does she do it?!), and there's a few mildly graphic shock moments ("Boobs- oh yes we like'em," the TV producer said).
All this cliché aside, however, this is still a pretty decent film. George (not pronounced like the English first name) is incredibly watchable as Henry Kupfer, going from creepy to pathetic to arrogant bastard (though the latter of which, judging from his TV appearances, may not have involved all much acting). Eichhorn makes for a strong counterpart as a woman who, despite being pushed around and belittled everywhere she goes, is determined to show everyone and make it big in the business.
I do remember seeing the last third of it on TV in the late 1990s, and I did know that there'd be a twist at the end. I was glad my memory didn't serve me quite that well as I didn't quite expect that twist to be what it was. I was expecting something much more graphic and cliché and was pleasantly surprised when the predicted character ended up being victimized, but in a much different way from what I expected. This very ironic ending was very much in line with the criticism of tasteless, ruthless TV voyeurism and the greed that drives it that's present throughout the film, and I thought its last couple of scenes rounded that whole criticism up very nicely and, despite its limited accessibility, made it a film worth writing about.
So, if you ever find yourself tuning into this on German TV, and if you've somehow magically manged to learn German in the meantime, and have nothing better to do of course, this may be worth a try.