Sebastian Fitzek's Therapy

Surprised to see a German TV series on Amazon Prime just as we were getting bored with other programmes. We started watching this without much expectation knowing the ratings and reviews of this series being just about average. While we persisted in watching it, the story is getting better and better with twists and turns and a very surprising ending.

The story was weird to start with as the protagonist - Dr Victor Larenz, a psychiatrist with his wife and daughter living in a luxury villa near Berlin - was experiencing a personal crisis after the disappearance of his only child. The story goes back and forth mixing the present and flashbacks to trace the trajectory of his daughter's experience of growing up in a bourgeois family with a strict discipline imposed by her parents. Then we see the usual story of a teenager's rebellion and her final disappearance which resulted in the bitter separation of the parents. The personal crisis prompted Larenz to quit his job and travelled to a completely deserted North Sea island in the middle of a cold winter to have a soul-searching holiday alone. With excellent cinematography, the bleak winter beach scene perfectly conveys the feeling of desolation and despair of the protagonist. Then a series of weird things happened on the island.

At the same time, a side-plot developed in Berlin with Dr Larenz's colleague Dr Roth working in the same psychiatric clinic. The story exposes some of the common problems in the West - drug abuse and other social ills in the streets of Berlin. Roth helped Larenz to the end to solve the mystery of his daughter's disappearance.

A thought-provoking series which mixes the hallucinatory scenes with the bleak reality in the style of a psychological thriller. The story is not tinted by the usual "political correctness" and does not seek to sell any political agenda. It is both satisfying as an intriguing story as well as an example of aesthetically appealing cinematography without any special effects. Well worth watching. Highly recommended.

The only regret is the dubbing voices (in English) which sound a bit robotic - not natural enough as the native speakers.

I like this type of mystery series and movies. The series itself did not reinvent the wheel. And it didn't need to. What matters is how the story is told and whether the narrative holds you on all the way.

One of the key strengths of the series was that it was only six episodes long. A longer series would have meant an artificial extension and content. I would like to see more series of 4-6 episodes. With the growing popularity of series, it seems that many film scripts are being turned into 8-12 episode series. Slowly warming up a series is one thing, but artificially lengthening it without adding value is another.

But as I said, this series was the right length and had enough to hold you watching. Granted, the series did contain various silliness, but that's the way it is usually. All in all, the series was quite watchable, but this series isn't memorable. You can easily watch it and enjoy, but after somedays you won't probably remember that's much about it. And that is quite ok.

Really interesting story, a 10 but average editing, a 5.

I highly recommend.

Very good acting.

The English dubbing was excellent, I usually prefer to watch in the original language but this time I made an exception and I was very pleased.

I am usually not too fond of German cinema (of course with some exceptions). This was similar to a British production/series.

I liked the fact there was no clichés or any politically correct agenda. It is refreshing that there's wasn't any agenda forced on us.

Don't miss it.

Not predictable at all: a bonus as I tend to guess and it takes away the experience.

Maybe a bit slow as well.

This is truly a psychological mystery and contains twists and turns and unexpected imaginings. I am surprised there are such low ratings by some people. The cinematography was beautiful, the acting was very well done especially the main character Victor. Such a range of emotions. The two teenage girls also I think did an excellent job of being typically moody in a very believable way. The second main character Roth also carried off his part very well. The layers upon layers of imaginings versus reality gave the plot a lot of mysterious ambience that was enhanced by the musical score. There were some very tender and moving moments especially at the end. The dubbing was pretty good so all in all I really was captivated by this Limited series.

This is the story of a psychiatrist who believes he has "misplaced" his daughter. It contains several clever plot twists, dramatic incidents and insightful vignettes of family life. The first two episodes leave us quite confused and unable to predict what will happen next. Then things take a decidedly eerie turn. Of course, all is resolved in the sixth and final episode. In fact I did not believe all the puzzles could possibly have a convincing resolution, but to my surprise they did and the story held together well.

The cinematography alone made this a gorgeous viewing experience. English speakers can avoid the dubbed version, I found the original German dialogues together with English subtitles just perfect. This is a very European mini-series, thankfully missing the plastic acting that defines Hollywood these days. More on the lines of the great Nordic noir serials. Strongly recommended for the discerning viewer.