Love Is Stronger Than Death (4/6)

Love Is Stronger Than Death (4/6)

When Martin arrives at the hospital after Julia's serious accident she is already dead. Hans brings Dunja the terrible news: she then drowns her sorrows in alcohol. Martin gives a moving farewell speech at Julia's funeral. Hans has also come to Julia's burial, against Falk's wishes. When Hans discovers the mourners are being observed by the Stasi he turns on the informers in absolute fury.After this incident there is no going back for Hans. He intends to resign. He writes a farewell letter to his wife Marlene and plans to start over again with Dunja. Falk is enraged at his father's move.Threatening Vera by asking if she really wants to ruin her son Roman's future, Falk forces her to work as a Stasi informer codenamed "Snow White". Vera cannot and does not want to betray her friends, and especially Robert, for whom her feelings are growing increasingly stronger. Meanwhile Falk has adopted little Sonja without Vera's approval. Vera feels she has been ignored and realises she has no future with Falk. It leads to her and Robert becoming yet closer. At an unofficial bicycle protest   by the church environmental group, for a clean environment, Vera and Robert flee the police and stop by a lake.Meantime Martin soaks the table in the garden cottage with petrol, sets it alight and stares into the mounting flames...

Taking its name from the locality in the then divided city that houses the notorious Stasi secret police-run Hohenschönhausen prison, the series tells of young police officer Martin, from a loyal Party family, who falls in love with the beautiful young and rebellious Julia, from a family of dissidents: a Romeo & Juliet saga of two lovers struggling against prejudices and the social and political odds.

Grimme Award 2016
German Screen Actors Award 2014
German TV Award 2011 for Best Series
Nominated for Prix Europa 2011  
The first 6 episodes to be screened at Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) New York in April 2011.

PRESS REVIEWS

• Family saga Weissensee recounts what life in East Germany was like, in a DALLAS style. (Der Spiegel, Sept. 13, 2010)
  
• Weissensee (...) is simply a well-made drama, which profits from a tight story arc, a superb cast and terrific set design. (Süddeutsche Zeitung, Sept. 14, 2010)
  
• Behind the surface story of two families in 1980s Socialist East Germany - replete with romance, intrigue and betrayal - a piece of real life emerges: authentic, dramatic. (Welt Online, Sept. 14, 2010)
  
• A courageous effort - which pays off handsomely. Beneath the soap opera plot, a complex web of desires and wishes emerges, of self-deception and patronizing. (Spiegel Online, Sept. 14, 2010)
  
• A highly original TV series. (Leipziger Volkszeitung, Sept. 6, 2010)
  
• Germany's biggest newspaper BILD headlined "The most spectacular TV series of the year." (Sept. 11, 2010)