Hairy: In “Tatort: ​​Rapunzel” a blonde hairdresser’s daughter is shaved bald and killed by a car

Fairy tale motifs often serve as horror elements; the ambiguous story of Rapunzel has been filmed countless times and even recently given a Disney twist: Let down your hair! In the Zurich crime series " Tatort : ​​Rapunzel," Vanessa (Elena Flury) is dancing wildly with her friend Lynn (Elsa Langnäse) in a club , tossing her long blonde hair around. On the way home, she is kidnapped by a man in a taxi, taken to a bunker in the forest, shaved bald, and hit while trying to escape.

The next morning, she's impaled in a tree five meters above the ground. Investigators led by Isabelle Grandjean (Anna Pieri Zuercher) and Tessa Ott (Carol Schuler) discover that Vanessa was the daughter of a celebrity hairdresser (Bruno Cathomas), but had worked in the wig workshop of Aurora Schneider (Stephanie Japp). The master is currently missing her entire supply of real hair—apparently a precious commodity.

Author Adrian Illien, as in the highly acclaimed series "Davos 1917," travels through cultural history and attempts to interweave all possible aspects of the topic of "hair." Not only does he employ the Rapunzel motif, but he also explains the tradition of Orthodox Jewish women to wear a "parting" made of someone else's hair after their wedding, which, of course, must be kosher. The hair often comes from India, as the deceased discovered—a company called "Hair Majestic" operates an illegal trade there. "The hair of the poor adorns the heads of the rich," summarizes Tessa Ott, a shaggy-haired daughter from a wealthy family, who is always critical of capitalism. Shaving women's heads and covering their hair naturally have a historical and political component. Aurora Schneider's wigs, on the other hand, are usually created for cancer patients. But hair can also become relics of deceased loved ones or distant celebrities. And last but not least, hair serves as evidence: The remaining blonde strands of dead Vanessa's hair show traces of drugs . The investigators also make their hairy contribution: Grandjean confesses that her mother died of cancer and had lost her hair recently. Ott receives advice from her mother (Babett Arens), who appears for the first time, to go see a hairdresser. She arranges an appointment for her with Vanessa's father. Office worker Noah Löwenherz (Aaron Arens) has recently started sporting hair under his nose, and his colleagues even like the mustache.

Crime scene with a sense of bizarre humor

The brief cultural excursions are certainly not uninteresting, but they don't connect coherently – they don't develop into a plausible story. Especially since the overall concentration seems exaggerated and intrusive. The entire soul is contained in the hair, even a strange customer of the wig master (Sebastian Rudolph) asserts, claiming that without a wig he can't sell insurance. The soulless reviewer is somewhat perplexed at this, running his hand over his bald head, searching for a more original phrase than "far-fetched", but finding none better. Tobias Ineichen, an experienced "Tatort" director, who is directing the Zurich duo for the third time here, isn't afraid of sensational thriller elements, but repeatedly demonstrates his sense of bizarre humor. In the finale, Vanessa's friend Lynn actually hangs herself down a tower using a large braid while on the run – the Rapunzel motif is given a completely new interpretation.

Crime Scene: Rapunzel. Sunday, June 15, 8:15 p.m., ARD