The Concert (5/6)

The Concert (5/6)

Dunja's life hangs by a thread following her suicide bid. Falk now has to account to his superiors for what happened: his father Hans, as well as Gaucke and the Minister's deputy, Korwitz. Against all expectations Falk is not rapped over the knuckles, but is charged with finding ways to cover up the incident. Hans, in his turn, is promoted to guest lecturer at the Stasi Academy in Potsdam-Eiche. Julia, unaware of all this, learns from a neighbour that Dunja was taken off in an ambulance. She bursts in on the Kupfer family to ask for Martin's help in finding her mother. Hans confesses that Dunja is in hospital following a suicide attempt. When Martin realises his brother and father are involved in the affair, he finally packs his bags and leaves his parents' house with Julia. As a police officer he is able to find out in which hospital Dunja is and Julia succeeds in sneaking into the ward. Dunja is in a very bad way - she doesn't recognise her daughter. Hans Kupfer meets Julia at her mother's sickbed. There follows an exchange in which he confesses his affair with Dunja to Julia and offers her his friendship - in vain: Julia rejects him. Marlene knows immediately where her husband has been as he comes home. She tells him she knew of his relationship with Dunja from the very outset.  The tension between Falk and Martin reaches breaking point as Martin refuses to arrest peaceful visitors during a raid on an illegal concert, thus disobeying his brother and superiors. It comes to a fist fight between the two and for the first time Martin is the stronger. Falk explodes with fury and threatens to destroy both his brother and his love. Among the concertgoers arrested is Julia's colleague Moni. Falk interrogates the young woman and "recruits" her as an informer. Her task is to keep an eye on her friend Julia.

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)