The Collini Case

Caspar Leinen is a young and inexperienced lawyer who is appointed to defend Fabrizio Collini, a retired Italian worker who has lived in Germany for decades and has confessed to shooting a wealthy, respected industrialist named Hans Meyer. Collini refuses to explain his motive, and Leinen hesitates to take the case at all, because he knew the victim: Meyer had supported him during his studies, and Meyer's granddaughter Johanna was his first love. Against that personal conflict, and facing a far more seasoned defense attorney, Leinen accepts the assignment and begins digging into a case that initially appears to have no explanation. A chance discovery leads him toward one of the biggest judicial scandals in German history, a truth many would prefer to leave buried.

The film is directed by Marco Kreuzpaintner, his fourth feature after Summer Storm, Trade and Krabat, and is based on Ferdinand von Schirach's novel. Elyas M'Barek plays Leinen, with Heiner Lauterbach as the opposing counsel Richard Mattinger, Alexandra Maria Lara as Johanna, Rainer Bock as the prosecutor and Catrin Striebeck as the presiding judge; the credited cast numbers 33.

Released in April 2019 and running 118 minutes, it is a German drama-thriller that earned about 3 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.3/10 from roughly 15,000 votes and on TMDB 7.4/10 from 444 votes, while the critics' rating of 6.8/10 from 25 reviews sits somewhat below those audience scores.