Tannöd (2009)

On the remote Tannöd farm in Bavaria, the hated Danner family, including the children and their maid, were brutally bludgeoned to death on a stormy night. Two years later, the young Kathrin comes to the village to bury her mother and is confronted with the crime, which remains unsolved. It soon becomes clear that the villagers are both unyieldingly loyal to one another and concealing a web of mutual betrayal and intrigue. Like the book, the film gradually weaves together, through frequent jumps in time, (a) life on the Tannöd farm before the murders, (b) the events on the night of the murders, and (c) Kathrin’s experiences two years later. Since old Danner was an insufferable miser, no one truly mourns his murder; they feel sympathy only for the rest of the family, especially the two small children. Danner’s money was not stolen and is not considered a motive. Old Traudl Krieger, the murdered maid’s sister, suspects everyone and so makes herself unpopular with all. The priest tells Kathrin that Barbara Danner had wanted to confess to him the day before the murders, but had said nothing specific. At first, a vagrant was suspected; he had in fact spent the night in the Tannöd farm’s barn and witnessed the murders. Georg Hauer, Kathrin’s host, was hopelessly in love with Barbara and had given her a medallion, which she always wore around her neck. He tried to persuade her to join him with her whole family, especially since everyone knew that old Danner sexually abused not only her but many of the village women. His wife knew about it, but tolerated it for the sake of keeping the peace. Kathrin learns that she herself is also Danner’s daughter, something her mother had never spoken about. An argument broke out, during which Georg Hauer lost control and slaughtered the entire family. When Kathrin sees Georg take a small keepsake she cannot identify—the medallion—out of a wooden box, she suspects that Georg is the murderer and immediately leaves the village again, just as the vagrant had done back then.