Old Flames (4/6)

Old Flames (4/6)

The search for the missing Lisa is in full swing. Hans and Marion give Falk the entire blame: his intrigues have caused the whole situation. When Martin discovers Lisa eating ice cream with a stranger, the man is arrested on the spot and charged with child abduction. Fortunately the doctors give the all-clear: he did not do anything to the girl. Marion apologises to Martin for her behaviour and asks him for another chance. In reconciliation she invites him for a meal. After a very pleasant evening Martin tells her he will not be coming back. He cannot forget Julia. The Stasi observes that music producer Meigold is meeting with a smuggler who is charged with illegally bringing the tapes with Dunja's songs to the West. Meigold is arrested at the handover. When he confesses, Falk feels he has finally achieved his goal: Gaucke gives him permission to arrest Dunja. Hans suggests they instead recruit Dunja as an informer. Falk therefore makes the singer the "offer": if she cooperates in future, there will not be any charges or arrest. Instead of replying, she throws him out the flat. Dunja and Julia now have a blazing row, with Dunja accusing her daughter of telling Martin about the plan to smuggle the tapes. Julia is hurt to the core and finally packs her bags to squat in an empty flat. Hans lures Dunja out of her bugged flat to speak with her unheard and to persuade her once again to cooperate. In this way she learns her flat is wired and she has falsely accused Julia. By coincidence, Hans' wife Marlene sees her husband with his ex-lover. In her despair she confides in her eldest son. Falk should "make Dunja disappear." So Falk succeeds in persuading Gaucke and the Minister the singer should be arrested for the illegal export of the tapes. During the arrest, he permits Dunja to go to the bathroom alone to get dressed - as Hans comes in, Dunja is lying motionless in the tub.

Taking its name from the locality in the then divided city that houses the notorious Stasi secret police-run Hohenschönhausen prison, the series tells of young police officer Martin, from a loyal Party family, who falls in love with the beautiful young and rebellious Julia, from a family of dissidents: a Romeo & Juliet saga of two lovers struggling against prejudices and the social and political odds.

Grimme Award 2016
German Screen Actors Award 2014
German TV Award 2011 for Best Series
Nominated for Prix Europa 2011  
The first 6 episodes to be screened at Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) New York in April 2011.

PRESS REVIEWS

• Family saga Weissensee recounts what life in East Germany was like, in a DALLAS style. (Der Spiegel, Sept. 13, 2010)
  
• Weissensee (...) is simply a well-made drama, which profits from a tight story arc, a superb cast and terrific set design. (Süddeutsche Zeitung, Sept. 14, 2010)
  
• Behind the surface story of two families in 1980s Socialist East Germany - replete with romance, intrigue and betrayal - a piece of real life emerges: authentic, dramatic. (Welt Online, Sept. 14, 2010)
  
• A courageous effort - which pays off handsomely. Beneath the soap opera plot, a complex web of desires and wishes emerges, of self-deception and patronizing. (Spiegel Online, Sept. 14, 2010)
  
• A highly original TV series. (Leipziger Volkszeitung, Sept. 6, 2010)
  
• Germany's biggest newspaper BILD headlined "The most spectacular TV series of the year." (Sept. 11, 2010)