TV review of the thriller on ZDF

Four teenagers disappear in a short time, but the residents of Immerstile remain silent. This only changes when Lisa (Kristina Cervenka) returns home from Vienna. “Immerstill” is a must-see Austrian thriller, which can be seen for the first time on ZDF.

In Immerstill, a fictional village in Lower Carinthia, the name says it all: years ago there were troubles between men and their wives, between children and their parents. Nobody really wants to talk about it, instead, concerns are reliably swept under the rug. Lisa Schiller (Kristina Cervenka) had enough of her behavior: the young woman went to Vienna and opened a cupcake shop. Only when her sister Mary (Helena Dorothea Greener) and friend Natalie (Mary Korb) disappear without trace does she return.

Nobody takes Lisa’s fears seriously

“Immerstill” bears the “Landkrimi” seal. In fact, the film, which is based on the novel of the same name by Roman Klimentovich, is an Austrian thriller (Director: Eva Spritzoffer, Screenplay: Wolf Jacobi, Eva Spritzoffer). A few months after it was first broadcast on ORF, it can now be seen on ZDF for the first time.

Natalie asked the most beautiful Austrian a few hours ago: “Lisa, now sit on the lattice plate and come.” She and Mary Lisa wanted to use the videophone to get home to the carnival. After all, they desperately needed their help: “No one cares that Cathy has been gone for two weeks. Everyone is fooled by some fake news.” The text messages that Cathy and her new boyfriend, Marcus, sent to their parents. Accordingly, the couple is on their way to New Zealand. After her sister goes missing, Lisa also has doubts about the story.

It is foolish for anyone not to want to listen to them: “They will fall asleep drunk somewhere,” the police say. Even when a stranger attacks Lisa in the night, her father (Dominique Warta) reacts unaffected; All he says is “Oh go”. Only Lisa’s aunt Hannelore (Julia Sensig) takes her niece’s concerns seriously. When they finally manage to start a search, the day ends with a terrifying discovery.

The movie thrives on uncertainty

“I love secrets and mysteries, and the movie is exactly the kind in which both come to the fore,” novelist Roman Klementovich said in an interview with the Austrian newspaper “Kleine Zeitung”. Everything he “reads, sees or writes” is not about “very violent and brutal scenes, but always about a hidden tension. About something menacing and about the mystery you are trying to solve.”

The same goes for “Immerstill”: the film thrives on the uncertainty that the audience and the characters have to live with almost until the very last moment. The cold and often bluish landscape of the snowy Austrian landscape emphasizes this effect. Shooting took place in Carinthia from 16 November to 16 December. Both the novelist and the film’s director make a small guest appearance for a few seconds. Leading actress Kristina Cervenka has been nominated for a 2023 Romy Award in the ‘Female Discovery’ category for the film. But in the end, Julia Biotics (“Yesterday We Were Babies”) won. Cervenka, born in 1993, is now in front of the camera for the 20th installment of the ZDF/ORF crime series “Die Toten vom Bodensee”. It is not yet known when the film will be released under the working title “Shadow of the Night”.

Always still – Monday. 22.05. – ZDF: 8.15 p.m