Die Ungehorsame (2015)

Alexander Keller lies dead in the kitchen. Beside him is his wife, Leonie, who called the police and confessed to the crime. Did she murder him in cold blood, was it manslaughter, or was it self-defense? Her court-appointed defense attorney, Gottwald, pieces together her client’s story: Leonie, who has a son from a previous relationship, was physically and emotionally abused by her husband for years. At first, Alexander apologized and was especially loving toward his wife and stepson after each attack. But the incidents became more frequent. He monitored Leonie’s shopping and phone calls, cut her off from her friends, raped her, and restricted her contact with the outside world. An attempt to leave the house with her son failed, after which Alexander announced that he would rather kill them all than let it happen again. Afraid for her son, she made no further attempt to escape. On the evening of the killing, Alexander again became violent, and Leonie was nearly strangled to death by him. According to her account, in mortal fear she grabbed a carving fork and stabbed her husband in the neck, which ultimately killed him. But inconsistencies keep emerging in her statements. In the end, Leonie’s son Jonas admits that he witnessed everything and stabbed his stepfather with the fork to save his mother’s life. Acting on a mother’s protective instinct, Leonie had taken the blame for the killing and is acquitted in the end.