Woman of the Dead Review: Well-Constructed and Intriguing Netflix Thriller Series
Cast: Anna Maria Mühe, Yousef Sweid, Hans-Uwe Bauer
Creators: Barbara Stepansky, Benito and Wolfgang Mueller
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3/5 (three stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Coming to Netflix from January 5, Woman of the Dead (Totenfrau) is a new Austrian TV series based on the novel by Bernhard Aichner. The author has already written a trilogy and the six points of the first season concern, of course, only the first book, which has sold hundreds of thousands of copies and been translated into thirty countries. The screenplay was written by Barbara Stepansky, Wolfgang and Benito Mueller, while the direction is by Nicolai Rohde. We’re in one of those small where everyone knows each other, and nothing ever happens. Obviously, they are often the ideal theater for bloody murders.
It is in Bad Annenhof, an Austrian ski resort, that this story based on the bestseller by Bernhard Aichner begins. As we will see in this review of Woman of the Dead, the Netflix series created by Barbara Stepansky, Benito and Wolfgang Mueller, could be exactly what the subscriber of the platform – an orphan of the great crime hits of the season, such as The Watcher and Dahmer – Mostro – was looking for to enrich the thrills and mystery his days. Cruel murders, a strong (but morally ambiguous) protagonist, and a small provincial town where feuds have deep roots and a sprinkling of ritual violence. From the protagonists to the freezing setting, Woman of the Dead is a thriller/thriller that captures and excites, and we are sure it will be appreciated by Netflix users who have shown that they love this kind of story.
Woman of the Dead Review: The Story
Blum (Anna Maria Mühe) is the owner of a funeral home who lost both of her parents – drowning in a tragic accident while the three were on a sailing holiday in Croatia – as soon as she became an adult. To brighten a life that seems inextricably linked to her death, her husband Mark, an upright policeman who loves to help others, and their two children, Nela and Tim. One morning, however, the worst thing he could have ever imagined happens: Mark is hit by a hit-and-run driver – who quickly leaves the scene of the accident without leaving a trace – and shortly after dies in hospital. Blum is devastated, and her only goal becomes to find the killer. Immediately, however, the suspicion that her husband’s death was not a tragedy dictated by chance begins to grow in her: a second cell phone with strange messages directed to Mark, the strange behavior of her police colleagues and the man’s jeep of the killer, which the authorities inexplicably fail to find.
When, shortly after her husband’s funeral, Blum finds a frightened girl that the man was trying to hide because she was in danger, the mystery that unfolds in front of her becomes terrifying and complex. Who are the masked men who in the confused memories of the girl, Dunja, tortured and killed young women like her? What do some prominent personalities of the town, including the heir to the rich Bad Annenhof ski resort, have to do with it? Blum devotes himself completely to her mission: to discover the truth and find, one by one, those responsible for the death of her beloved husband. To do this, she will transform herself into a ruthless and unscrupulous angel of vengeance.
Woman of the Dead is therefore a thriller with tight and frantic deadlines, from which secrets are discovered, double lives and glacial violence like the perennial snowfields that loom in the background of every outdoor shot. The protagonist is a vigilante who investigates with acumen and without the slightest mercy, moved by anger and the right amount of recklessness that push her to annihilate the perfidies of the human soul: masculine, to be precise. A figure that has been seen for a long time now, thirsty for a furious desire to settle accounts, which is made up only of one’s motivation, without nuances of feelings, without hesitation or hesitation.
Woman of the Dead Review and Analysis
Immediately striking upon viewing is the perfect setting for a story of this type. Not that bringing a thriller to a cold and isolated mountain resort is new (certain Northern European writers have made these locations their fortune), but it can always give that extra sprint to the narrative, in which the cruel coldness of the environment mirrors that of the soul of the characters, on the one hand the killers and the protagonist herself, moved by a vengeful fury that is fully found in the force of the natural elements. The direction then knows how to take full advantage of the environmental conditions of the mountain location: roads that climb up snow-covered slopes, spacious and impressive exteriors and narrow and dark interiors, in particular the morgue of Blum’s funeral home, where some of the most intense of the series.
The excellent success of Woman of the Dead is due to its splendid protagonist, Anna Maria Mühe, who gives life to a unique character, guided by the need for justice but also by a very personal need for revenge. It is a pity that her past has not been investigated further (at one point it is mentioned that she was adopted, but not much more is known about this), trying to find the roots of her actions in the dysfunctional relationship with her parents present: what makes Blum particularly fascinating is a psychological and emotional universe that is difficult to frame – in the continuous dialogue with the dead on his work table we wonder if he has psychic powers or some kind of disturbance – which often goes hand in hand with the kind of characterization that we usually associate with villains.
In the clash with one of the killers, the basic ambiguity of the protagonist is underlined, which on the one hand disturbs the viewer but which on the other is the key to creating a deep emotional connection. Blum will do everything to avenge the death of her beloved husband, and we are with her in her search for justice (even when she does the worst acts, which given the recipients, however, we can only forgive). Even the rest of the cast lives up to the story, despite taking a little second place to a protagonist who is always at the center of the action. The characters of Reza (Yousef Sweid) are interesting, a Syrian immigrant welcomed by Mark who will become an indispensable ally for the woman.
Even the ending does not disappoint, pulling the strings of the various storylines and finding a satisfactory solution to the mystery. The unraveling of the thriller plot does not always go smoothly (it is a little credible that Blum always manages to get away without being discovered), and some moments are perhaps a little rushed (the whole subplot linked to his daughter Nela is a bit useless in the economy overall history) and, as we already anticipated, we could dwell a little more on the past of the protagonist. Having said that, however, Woman of the Dead is a well-constructed detective story, which meets the expectations of lovers of this kind of product, and which impresses with an interesting and unconventional heroine.
The brutality and bestiality stage flatten the story, almost becoming the point of maximum interest in the narrator’s gaze. Here Blum uses the same brutality of the monsters he hunts, giving nothing of himself, if not the fulfillment of individual missions divided into stages, just like in a video game. Even the “good” male characters are victims of the same characteristics, but in reverse: they proceed with continuous availability and goodness, which do not seem to be affected by anything that happens around them.
Woman of the Dead turns out to be a well-organized story at the end, where the single facts that develop and unfold arouse interest and curiosity, albeit with a few unsettling and surprises, but which respect the canons of the genre of which they become executors. From this point of view, one can breathe that the novel has a good starting point, also as regards the construction of the environment and the idea of the profiles of the characters involved in the story: one above all the multi-millionaire Johanna Schönborn (Michou Friesz).
But it remains, in fact, a product that captures little and, in an attempt to give a protagonist something new, ends up doing exactly what is expected. The only point that encourages us to follow up on the succession of episodes is to find out who the killer is. In this sense, it is always effective to leverage one of the things that most capture the attention of the human species: teasing its morbid indiscretion.
Woman of the Dead Review: The Last Words
Woman of the Dead is a well-constructed and intriguing thriller series, supported by a unique female character. Excellent interpretation of the protagonist Anna Maria Mühe. A product that captures little and gives a protagonist something new ends up doing exactly what is expected. The only point that encourages us to follow up on the succession of episodes is to find out who the killer is. In this sense, it is always effective to leverage one of the things that most capture the attention of the human species: teasing its morbid indiscretion.
