Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Marco Kreuzpaintner
Starring: Elyas M'Barek, Franco Nero, Manfred Zapatka, Alexandra Maria Lara
Director Marco Kreuzpaintner's German legal drama
The Collini Case is a throwback to the John Grisham
adaptations of the 1990s. Those movies usually featured an attractive young
lead thrust into the world of the courtroom, losing their innocence and
naivete along the way. And that's exactly what we get here.
Our handsome but wet behind the ears protagonist here is Caspar Leinen (Elyas M'Barek), a rookie lawyer who somewhat inexplicably lands a ridiculously high
profile case for his first ever courtroom gig. He's tasked with defending
Fabrizio Collini (Franco Nero), an elderly Italian man who walked
into a hotel and murdered well-known German tycoon Hans Meyer (Manfred Zapatka).
The complications of the case are twofold for Caspar. Firstly, Fabrizio
refuses to talk. Secondly, the murdered man was a beloved father figure for
Caspar, having raised him as though he were his own son and paying to send
him to law school. Much to the chagrin of Meyer's granddaughter Johanna (Alexandra Maria Lara), who was once romantically involved with Caspar, the rookie lawyer puts
aside his personal feelings and commits to defending his client.
What follows is a rather routine procedural occasionally enlivened by an
examination of Germany's past. Nazi war crimes rear their ugly head as
Caspar learns that his father figure wasn't the angelic presence he knew him
as.
With his Clooney looks and innocent charm, M'Barek makes for an affable
leading man, but his character is one-dimensional. None of the various
revelations he uncovers regarding the Mayer family seem to disturb him as
much as they should. Through several flashbacks we learn of his attachment
to the murdered man, yet when he learns of his wartime past he doesn't
flinch for a second in doubling down on defending Fabrizio. His unconvincing
relationship with Johanna seems shoe-horned into the narrative for the sake
of some cheap sexual tension. She too seems largely devoid of any real
personality. Similarly unconvincing is Caspar's relationship with his real
father, whom he enlists to help out with the case - it's a subplot that the
screenplay seems to have forgotten about.
The Collini Case is adapted from a novel by Germany's own
John Grisham, lawyer turned author Ferdinand von Schirach. His
own grandfather was sentenced to 20 years at Nuremberg for his involvement
with the Hitler youth while his grandmother was one of Hitler's secretaries.
It's clear that his novel is inspired by his own reckoning with his family's
dark past, so it's a shame the screen adaptation never leans into this
aspect.
For all its cardboard characters and clichéd courtroom manoeuvres,
The Collini Case's two hours flew by. Maybe I'm nostalgic for when Hollywood made movies
with such adult themes, but I was never not invested in its narrative, even
if I struggled to swallow most of its characters.
I was particularly impressed with how Caspar devises a clever trick to get
a ride home and a pizza delivered in a single transaction, but I'm not sure
that's quite the insight Kreuzpaintner wants me to take away from his
film.
