Wer einmal stirbt dem glaubt man nicht (2020)

Clara is a perfumer with a cold, which has made her temporarily unsuccessful; otherwise, she manages her life with determination and pragmatism. Ulf is a man who understands women and a successful bestselling author, but he is all thumbs. Since his wife’s death, he has suffered from writer’s block. The two are connected by grief over their respective partners, who died recently. In both cases, however, the body could not be found: neither that of Clara’s husband Enno, who supposedly fell into a crevasse in a glacier in Tyrol three months ago, nor that of Ulf’s wife Anke, whose car and clothes were found on the seashore two days later. While trying to have their partners declared dead so they can finally find closure and let go, Clara and Ulf meet at a government office in Hamburg. Clara discovers a photograph in Ulf’s apartment showing both Anke and Enno, looking familiar with each other. Ulf initially suspects that they were having an affair and committed suicide out of guilt. In fact, however, Anke and Enno are still alive. They have known each other for some time and planned to disappear abroad with a large sum of money after faking their deaths. After Ulf meets Axel Fliedermann at Anke’s farewell party and learns that Enno was an authorized signatory at Fliedermann’s commercial law firm, and that Fliedermann himself held all his accounts at Anke’s bank, Ulf no longer believes it was a coincidence and begins investigating. From Leyla, one of Anke’s colleagues, Ulf learns that Anke helped Enno and Axel’s firm stash money away. Leyla suspects that Anke’s activities would soon have been exposed and that she may have committed suicide for that reason. From Enno’s browser history, Clara discovers that he had been interested in countries without extradition treaties with Germany, such as the Dominican Republic. Ralf Petersen, whose trust account is missing around 1.5 million, puts pressure on Fliedermann, whose firm represents clients accused of tax evasion or money laundering. Fliedermann tells Clara that he suspects Anke covered for Enno’s activities and that the two are still alive. However, he does not want to go to the police because he fears that no one would entrust him with money anymore. Since Enno has lost the embezzled money, he and Anke are stuck in Hamburg. The two plan to break into Ulf’s house. Secretly, Anke arranges a trip to Dubai for herself alone. When Anke breaks into Ulf’s apartment, he catches her in the act. Enno, meanwhile, turns up at Clara’s place. After the two former couples talk things through, they finally part ways. During an argument between Anke and Enno, Petersen’s men set fire to the boat the two are on; Anke and Enno are subsequently declared dead.