Der Fall der Gerti B. (2019)

The story centers on three former friends from Floridsdorf, Vienna’s 21st district: Gerti Bruckner, Franz Aigner, and Jonas Lipansky. They lost touch over the years and happen to meet again after forty years. Gerti Bruckner has been married to Herbert for 32 years. She became a detective and is deeply committed to her work, though she receives little appreciation for it. The younger Heidi Mai is put in charge over her and thinks she knows better than everyone else. Franz Aigner was originally supposed to take over his father’s funeral business, but instead became the owner of a nightclub and later a chain of brothels. His best years are also behind him; only one of his establishments remains. Jonas Lipansky is officially a watchmaker, but in reality he works as a contract killer. His female employer pressures him to kill his old friend Franz, but Jonas hesitates. Flashbacks show the three protagonists at the age of sixteen, in 1978, on the day of the football international between the German and Austrian national teams at the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Córdoba. The body of Chanelle, a prostitute who worked as a dominatrix at Franz’s establishment, is discovered by chance at a funeral: one of the pallbearers stumbles, the coffin lid opens, and two bodies are revealed inside instead of just one. Gerti investigates the case, which leads her to Franz, who is in turn being watched by Jonas. Jonas’s employer is growing impatient because he still has not killed Franz, and she now sends her own people after the three friends—Franz, Gerti, and Jonas. Jonas kills his employer’s two hitmen at Franz’s villa. Afterward, Franz tells Jonas how Chanelle died: after a reading by Christiane Hörbiger at Franz’s nightclub, she discovers that Loriot, one of her two pugs, is missing. Hörbiger catches Chanelle feeding both dogs chocolate. This leads to an argument between Mrs. Hörbiger and Chanelle, during which Chanelle hits the back of her head and dies. Jonas’s employer then tries to kill Gerti because she knows too much. In her apartment in a high-rise, Gerti leans out of the window, and the railing’s mounting comes loose. Gerti falls several floors and lands directly on Jonas’s employer, who dies. Gerti survives the fall and is nursed by Jonas and Franz.