Marie Brand und das Verhängnis der Liebe (2018)

Nadine Ullrich, assistant to Cologne psychotherapist Jörg Korfmann, receives a phone call late one evening and then heads into the city center. The next day, she is found dead in a park. Detective Marie Brand and her colleague Jürgen Simmel immediately realize that the place where the body was found cannot be the murder scene. Robbery-murder can be ruled out, and flowers are found nearby, suggesting a date. When the detectives visit Korfmann’s practice, his client Detlef Stelzer, who is in the waiting room, behaves strangely. When he runs away, Simmel chases him but cannot catch him. Meanwhile, Korfmann tells Brand about Stelzer and his violent behavior. He has been particularly troublesome toward women in the past, which is why he is in treatment with Korfmann. This now makes him a prime suspect in Ullrich’s bludgeoning death. After Stelzer’s fingerprints are found on the flower wrapping paper, Simmel is convinced that he is the killer, whereas Brand has doubts, since the clues seem too clear-cut to her. Stelzer’s probation officer also gives him an entirely positive assessment. When the detectives question Britta Hauke, the victim’s friend, it quickly becomes clear that she is hiding something from them. Apparently, she is having an affair with Jörg Korfmann, whose wife left him about a year ago because she could no longer put up with his self-righteous, vain nature and his infidelity. In a further interview, Korfmann says that he had recently become dissatisfied with Ullrich’s work and had therefore fired her. But according to Brand’s research, he had been having an affair with Ullrich until recently, before getting involved with Britta Hauke. Hauke would therefore have a motive to get rid of her unwelcome rival, since Korfmann immediately offered her the vacant assistant’s position. Brand also thinks it possible that Korfmann was the killer, although she has not yet found a motive. His lack of empathy and obvious narcissistic personality disorder are the only things that make him seem suspicious to her. However, he has an alibi for the time of the murder. Meanwhile, Simmel’s prime suspect, Detlef Stelzer, is still on the run. Desperate, he kidnaps his therapist, Korfmann, and demands that he help him. Korfmann advises him to turn himself in to the police immediately, since there is no other way he can improve his situation. Stelzer takes the advice and meets with his probation officer. He is then arrested and questioned. At the same time, at the police station, Korfmann gives his assessment of Stelzer and leaves no doubt that he is an incorrigible violent offender. The constant accusations strengthen Brand’s suspicion that Korfmann is determined to make Stelzer appear to be the culprit, presumably to divert attention from himself. With Simmel’s help, Brand manages to weaken Korfmann’s alibi, but there is still no conclusive evidence of his guilt. Events come to a head, however, when Korfmann reveals his final plan: revenge on his wife. To that end, he has been manipulating one of his doctoral candidates for months. When the student sees through Korfmann’s deception, Korfmann kills him in a struggle. Korfmann plans to punish his wife by making her kill him. She is to put him out of his misery; after all, in his worldview, being left is simply not an option. At the same time, he would make her the culprit and punish her with guilt. He lures her to a park and confesses that he killed his assistant because she had seen through him. Korfmann provokes his wife, but when, contrary to his expectations, she does not kill him, he tries to take his own life. Simmel stops him with a carefully aimed shot at the gun. Korfmann is arrested and must answer for his crimes.