The 7th hour

After the big audience successes DAS KINDERMÄDCHEN (6.75 million/2013), DIE LETZTE INSTANZ (7.68 million/2014) and DER MANN OHNE SCHATTEN (7.32 million/2015), Carlo Rola again directs a film about Berlin lawyer Joachim Vernau (Jan Josef Liefers) based on the book of the same name by Elisabeth Herrmann to kick off the year on ZDF.

A murderous game, a mysterious suicide and a haunting secret: when lawyer Joachim Vernau takes over a law class at a private school in Berlin, the students meet him full of reservations. When Vernau discovers what is behind the silence, it is almost too late.
Content
Berlin lawyer Joachim Vernau (Jan Josef Liefers) receives a lucrative offer: He is to lead the law class at a private school. Vernau takes over the seventh hour. But on the very first day there is a scandal. Principal Katharina Oettinger (Sophie von Kessel), an old school friend of his law firm colleague Marie-Luise Hoffmann (Stefanie Stappenbeck), has concealed the fact that a girl in Vernau’s class committed suicide a few months ago.
Allegedly, Sami (Emilio Sakraya Moutaoukkil), a boy with Lebanese roots from the secondary school two streets away, had something to do with it. But was Clarissa really just suffering from lovesickness? Vernau’s students, especially Samantha (Isolda Dychauk) and Matthias (Samuel Schneider), become more and more withdrawn.
Vernau discovers that role-playing games were being played at the expensive private school. One of the games goes back to ancient medical records that someone must have found in the school attic. The school building once housed a mental hospital. The game “The Black Queen” is based on the delusions of a child murderess.
When another student becomes the victim of a poison attack at the school, fear runs rampant. Vernau goes on a search and finds access to a group that plays larp – live action role play – at night in a Berlin park. When he finds out who is behind the threats, it is almost too late …
The 7th Hour” was directed by Carlo Rola, based on the book of the same name by author Elisabeth Herrmann. Producers are Jutta Lieck-Klenke and Dietrich Kluge on behalf of ZDF. Daniel Blum is the editor.