Gesina (“Gesche”) Margarethe Gottfried was a German serial killer who murdered 15 people by arsenic poisoning in Bremen and Hanover, Germany, between 1813 and 1827, including her parents, her two husbands, her fiancé, and her children. She was the final person to be publicly executed in the city of Bremen. “Effigy: Poison and the City” is based on her story and of a female clerk who ends up being a crucial role in the case. The movie was shortlisted for an Oscar Nomination in Best Foreign Film while it collected 22 awards all over the world from Dallas and San Francisco to Germany, London and Cyprus.
The story takes place in 1828, in the port city of Bremen, as we are initially introduced to Senator Droste, who was also a judge when the judicial procedures were still of inquisition style, with the trials taking place without audience, and with the initial judges just submitting a report to the Supreme Court, which would make a decision based on their suggestions. Cato Bohmer, who is also the narrator of the movie, appears in the senator’s office by chance, having been hired by an associate who had gone abroad in the meantime. Eventually, she manages to convince him to keep her as a clerk, despite women not having this role at all at the time. Around that time, the research for the crimes of Gesina Gottfried begun, with Cato being intensely involved in the case.
The narrative of the movie unfolds in three axes, which extend to both the story and the context of the film. In that regard, the place of women in the then society is explored quite thoroughly, through both women, although in rather different terms. Gesina talks about how she was forced to be married quite young while Cato highlights how her father allowed her to pursue the career she wanted, but also the obstacles she faces daily in a work women were deemed unsuitable for. As such, the comment about patriarchy echoes quite strongly through the film, in one of the best traits here.
The second axis revolves around the crime itself, with the pre-forensic investigation, which involves both testimonies and scientific examination, allowing the case to unfold as a crime film, despite the fact that the perpetrator is known from the beginning. The way that people could not believe what was happening in front of their eyes, particularly from a woman who was named ‘the angel of Bremen’ due to the way she cared for the people she actually poisoned, emerges as one of the most captivating moments of the whole movie.
Lastly, the clash of the two women, with Cato having realized what is going on to a point and trying to prove it and Gesian playing the innocent, with both the way this aspect unfolds and the moment the release comes, is quite well handled. This and the aforementioned element benefit the most from the acting, with Suzan Anbeh as Gesche Gottfried and Elisa Thiemann as Cato Bohmer giving excellent performances. Their antithesis but also their common aspects, mostly having to do with the aforementioned patriarchy, are presented equally well by the two women, in yet another of the movie’s traits.
At the same time, though, and although the writing and acting are on a very high level, cinematically the movie suffers on a number of levels. For starters, the overall approach lingers somewhere between the stage play and the TV drama, with occasionally the acting, but particularly the intensely brighted lighting pointing towards this direction. Thankfully, the movie darkens a bit as time passes, but not to a level to completely move beyond the issue. The use of music is also problematic, particularly due to its lack most of the time, in an aspect that could be attributed, partially, to the relatively low budget of the production. Sven Pape’s editing results in a relatively fast pace that suits the style of the story nicely, although at 80 minutes, the movie could easily be longer, considering the main theme here, and some additional analysis of all the aforementioned aspects would definitely benefit it.
As such, in the end, “Effigy: Poison and the City” emerges as a mixed bag of a film, with the cons essentially equalling the pros, in a story though, that could have definitely been adapted in a better fashion.
