György Fehér

Quote:
Friedrich Dürrenmatt had written a film script entitled Es geschah am hellichten Tag (It Happened in Broad Daylight). Not happy with the ending he had devised for the first version, he decided to write a new one. This time he chose the novel format, completely changing the epilogue and the morals implied in the story as he had originally conceived it. In the first version, the events are resolved with sort of a conventional closure, with the main character proved successful, not leaving much space for any further reflection; in the subsequent novel (Das Versprechen, also known as The Pledge in English) the author exploits the story to explore the mechanics of detective fiction and the metaphysics of evil. In Das Versprechen, Dürrenmatt not only changed the ending of the story, he also moved the point of view on the events to another character.Read More »

A former inspector on his last day with the department is called in to investigate a child murder. A suspect soon confesses to the crime, but knowing that the confession came only after the man was browbeaten in a relentless, 20-hour interrogation, the inspector’s keen police instincts tell him that the man is not the real murderer and that there is a serial killer at work, with the girl’s murder being related to other child murders that occurred in the area. However, he is alone in his assessment and the police close the case.Read More »