Der Fall Marianne Voss (2024)

One January morning, Marianne Voss goes for a walk in the woods with her dog. When she has not returned by evening, her husband Karsten sets out to look for her. The next day, he and his stepdaughter find Marianne dead in the woods. She and her dog have both been strangled. Shortly afterward, Karsten comes under suspicion of murder and is remanded in custody. As the trial begins, witness testimony makes it clear that the Vosses’ marriage was not as perfect as it appeared from the outside. Karsten was raised by a domineering mother, who later fled to the West without him when he was still a teenager. He met Marianne, a hairdresser, and married her shortly after she became pregnant by another man. After German reunification, Karsten seized the opportunity and had himself elected mayor of the small town. A man of action, he pushed development forward and successfully negotiated the construction of a leisure-pool complex. Within the marriage, however, Karsten was submissive and put up with a great deal from Marianne. He did not want to separate from her, though; he had built up too much. The dog often mattered more to Marianne than her husband did. She showed little understanding of Karsten’s serious bowel disease, and the couple no longer had an intimate relationship. While still alive, Marianne planned her own funeral, insisting on a single grave. After his time as mayor, Karsten took an expensive apartment in Berlin so he could work on a novel. For a while, he worked on a freelance basis, explaining the advantages of leisure-pool complexes to other towns. He began an expensive relationship with a prostitute, whom he continued to contact repeatedly even after they later broke up. According to her testimony, he had been very jealous of the other men, though he had never been violent toward her. Even so, she had been afraid of him. Karsten then moved back into Marianne’s house, where he had to live in the basement from then on. A separation would have created financial problems for Karsten, which the prosecution regards as a possible motive. On the basis of the available circumstantial evidence, the prosecution seeks a conviction for murder. The ancillary prosecution, representing Marianne’s daughter, seeks a conviction for manslaughter in the heat of passion. The defense calls for an acquittal, arguing that the case relies solely on circumstantial evidence and that the possibility of other perpetrators or a staged suicide was not pursued. Despite his protestations of innocence, Karsten Voss is convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. An appeal on points of law is dismissed as unfounded. The film ends with a flashback showing the Vosses dancing happily, accompanied by Udo Jürgens’ song “Liebe ohne Leiden.”