L'homme de la mort

In "Der Totmacher" Götz George basically just plays a murderer during a cross examination. Several sessions are shown. I am certainly not George's biggest fan on the planet, but what he did in this movie is what I have to call the greatest performance ever as he does not have any virtual assistance by effects or anything, it is just him. People who like to see movies where it is the actors who create the atmosphere must not miss this incredible performance of George.

Would a different translation have made it chillier or scarier? Are the subtitles too compact to convey the nuances of the original language? Does it even matter? You may have heard that great actors can make reading a phone book exciting. Well, this is an opportunity to judge for yourself.

If this isn't about homosexuality, murder, dismemberment, psychopaths, insanity, deviant psychology, then it is about acting - acting helped along with lots of dialog, So, enjoy the acting or muse about how titillating the dialog actually is.

For English speakers, "Twelve Angry Men" might be a better choice. There's a bit more interaction, and you can judge if the acting is consistent with the dialog. You don't have to wonder if you're missing something.

I would recommend Andy Warhol's "Empire" to those who like this film.

This is a quite spartan film. The only location is a sparse-funitured room, no special-effects, no score, just a few actors. - But what for actors! Götz George is supposed to be one of the best German actors, and after this movie the viewer knows why. Here he really shows what he is able to. I rarely (never?) saw such an intense, brilliant and convincing performance before. The sparse environment has the effect that the viewer can concentrate himself on the acting - and and this is what makes this film worth seeing.

But it's not only Götz George. The other actors (esp. Jürgen Hentsch as the psychiatrist and Pierre Franckh as the stenographer) are performing impressive and convincing. They are a well contrast and counterpart for George alias Haarmann. This prevents this movie from becoming a Götz-George-One-Man-Show.

I rated this with 8 because I think. a film for a 9 or even 10 should make more use of the diverse capabilities of the medium. After all a good film, but an absolute excellent play.

George realy did a perfect job in this! Based on the historical examination script they deliver a film that comes very close to your stomach. Some people I know couldn´t stand it and turned it off and some turned the video off, because they were bored. Try it yourself! This is absolutely an about average view on the so popular subject "serial killer". I watched it late at night with 100 percent thrill and interest.

Basically that film is just about one long dialogue between the killer and his psychiatrist in a german prison (or psychiatric clinic?) in the 1920s or 1930s that spans over some days before the killer's death penalty. The other actors barely speak a word in this movie. That sounds rather dull but the compelling performance of the two main actors made me sit through the whole film. On the other hand, if you don't like dialogue movies the avoid. There's no action at all, only language and expressions... I'd give it a 7 out of 10..