He loves the night, red wine and Frankfurt am Main – and he is the rough stray among the often all too smooth TV investigators: Inspector Robert Marthaler, played by Matthias Koeberlin. Arte is repeating the fifth – and so far last – film in this series on Friday at prime time (June 23, 8:15 p.m.): “Kommissar Marthaler – Die Sterntaler Verschwörung” from 2017.
In the film, Marthaler has to deal with an opponent from his own ranks. And things are going wrong with him privately. An investigative journalist is murdered in a hotel in the station district. Before Marthaler and his team can start the investigation, they are called off by an LKA officer.
Instead, they should clarify the supposed suicide of the pedophile member of parliament Johann von Münzenberg (Hans Peter Hallwachs). But suddenly there seems to be a connection between the two deaths, and a number of leads lead to the ominous Sterntaler nightclub, which is also frequented by politicians.
Abandoned by girlfriend
Meanwhile, Marthaler is somewhat distracted from his job by a turbulent private life: his girlfriend Tereza (Ellenie Salvo Gonzales) left him and moved to Prague without further ado. The abandoned man finds some consolation with forensic pathologist Thea Hollmann (Mirjam Weichselbraun).
Marthaler’s team works reliably: Claudio Caiolo charmingly plays the track collector Carlo, Jürgen Tonkel and Tim Seyfi are the reliable sidekicks and Alice Dwyer embodies a gripping and sensitive detective. An unpretentious team that is a pleasure to watch at work.
Lots of suspects, lots of leads
The criminal case is not the most exciting: too many suspects, leads that lead nowhere, and a main suspect who is known from the start: the TV film, which is based on the crime novel of the same name by the Frankfurt author Jan Seghers, touches on many topics , without pursuing a clear narrative strategy.
Nevertheless, director Züli Aladag and his screenwriters Lancelot von Naso and Kai-Uwe Hasenheit have created a film worth seeing. This is also due to the grandiose cast and primarily the convincing performance of the main actor Koeberlin.
Arte: “Inspector Marthaler – The Sterntaler Conspiracy”
