A modest true-crime tale that prioritizes history over thrills.
TWITTER
12/18/2020
Udo Flohr s debut fictionalizes the hunt for the Angel of Bremen, who poisoned 15 people nearly two centuries ago.
Far from the movie viewers may expect when they hear the words German serial killer,
Effigy: Poison and the City takes a dignified, old-fashioned approach to homicidal insanity that befits its early-19th century setting. Based on a play by Peer Meter inspired by the crimes of real-life killer Gesche Margarethe Gottfried, aka the Angel of Bremen, the film reimagines the killer s discovery and capture, using it as an opportunity for a young female law clerk to prove herself to the doubtful men around her. Though clearly made on a tight budget, Udo Flohr s feature debut finds a seriousness to match its unshowy production values, likely endearing it more to history buffs than thriller fans.
âEffigy â Poison and the Cityâ Review: Death and the Matron
Udo Flohrâs stagy drama follows the investigation of a real-life serial killer in 1820s Germany.
Suzan Anbeh in âEffigy â Poison and the City.âCredit.Laemmle
Directed by Udo Flohr
When you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.
A surreal period drama inspired by real events, Udo Flohrâs âEffigy â Poison and the Cityâ dramatizes the multiple deaths surrounding a beautiful widow in 1820s Bremen, Germany.
Wordy and stilted (it was derived from a stage play), this low-budget debut nevertheless benefits from a mesmerizing central performance by Suzan Anbeh as the real-life serial killer, Gesche Gottfried. (None other than Rainer Werner Fassbinder made a film about her in 1972.) Known locally as âThe Angel of Bremen,â she feeds the poor and comforts the dying. But when Gesche is suspected of sever