New Dark Comedy from Vienna "Drunter und Drüber" on Amazon Prime
Everything begins - as one might logically assume - with a death: Cemetery director Thomas Gruber is struck down by a falling angel statue. Deputy Helmut "Heli" Wondratschek (Ofczarek) rubs his hands, seeing himself "just one stamp away" from the boss's chair. To everyone's surprise, however, the responsible office appoints Ursula Fink (Jentsch) to the top. Thus, the peace of the dead in Donnersbach is finally lost.
A Viennese Cemetery as a Stage on Amazon Prime Video
The duo Ofczarek/Jentsch is already known from the dark Sky series "Der Pass," in which the two are on the trail of murderers as a highly contrasting detective duo at the Bavarian-Salzburg border. In "Drunter und Drüber," the main characters are also full of contrasts. Ofczarek plays Heli as a delightfully pedantic grump with a mustache and a too-short tie, who seems to feel at home nowhere as much as in the depths of cemetery regulations and races through the grave rows in a golf cart to ensure law and order. Jentsch's Ursula, on the other hand, is the lively and cheerful counterpoint. However, the new boss quickly reveals herself - having previously been responsible for dog parks and playgrounds in the magistrate - as a completely clueless newcomer in the funeral business.
Into the petty war over who actually has the say, one day bursts the news from the city administration that the Donnersbach Cemetery is to be closed. Now, they must reluctantly pull together to ensure the graveyard's survival - and with a staff consisting of all sorts of quirky characters: a florist with a cemetery phobia, a eulogist who only ever quotes Marcus Aurelius, and a gravedigger who has a connection to the deceased. For they also make their appearance, observing from the afterlife - a coolly lit TV room with the charm of an airport waiting area - eagerly watching and commenting on the events above at the cemetery as an endless soap opera.
What to Expect from "Drunter und Drüber"
It takes a bit for the story to really catch on. It's not laugh-out-loud funny, but neither is it deadly boring. Director Christopher Schier and screenwriter Judith Westermann have not implemented the series, produced by Wiener Rundfilm, initially consisting of eight episodes of around 25 minutes each, as a loud slapstick comedy with clichéd Viennese idiom. "It's not designed for gags, but for a light, sometimes quirky view of the whole," Jentsch mentioned during the filming - which took place in the summer of 2024 at the Hernalser Cemetery and the Otto Wagner area - and that hits the mark quite well. "Drunter und Drüber" thrives on subtle humor, with slapstick elements as well as drastic satire in its repertoire. For instance, a judge's corpse is cooled with ice lollies, a sausage is grilled on a child's coffin on the "Day of the Open Grave," or a furry - a hybrid of stuffed animal and human - is cremated with skin and hair.
The black humor is framed in an extremely light-flooded manner. The grave grove as a sunlit natural idyll with gracefully weathered stone figures, gravel paths, and thanks to its hillside location, a wonderful view over the city, could not be more beautifully staged by an image video of the Vienna cemeteries.
(APA/Red.)
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