Der Kommissar (TV Series) Der Papierblumenmörder (1970) User Reviews

Christiane Schröder (1942-1980), forgotten actress

[semiotechlab-658-95444 · 10/10 · 17 September 2010]

As "Unglaublich Langweilig" - "unbelievably boring", "Der Papierblumenmörder" had been criticized when it was first broadcast in 1970. Although the idea of the story is not a priori dull - a double-suicide looking like a murder-case, with the interesting twist that the second suicidal is assumed to be the murderer of the first -, the problem is that the dramaturgy is verbose: a wall consisting of too little stones and too much grout will not keep well. There are certain stories that are shorter than for 60 minutes movie-time, these are exactly those which cannot be expanded by "grout". However, from the standpoint of 40 years later, this movie has become a monumental status, insofar as it is well possible that "Der Papierblumenmörder" was the Chef d'Oeuvre of Christiane Schröder (the character of Bonny), daughter of the famous actor Ernst Schröder, who got a certain strange fame by orchestrating her own, real, death, in 1982 at the age of only 38 years when she jumped from the Gold Gate Bridge in San Francisco. When we thus watch the present movie and see this beautiful and highly talented actress who got perhaps only in this one movie the possibility to "pull out all her stops" as an actress, we should be thankful, that this movie has been made and always been aware that a movie is never better than the people who act (in) it. The paper- flowers, perhaps the last remnants of the Hippies, have been immortalized by Christiane Schröder as she immortalized herself in her highly dramatic and definitely Oscar-worthy play.