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''Capitani'' is a
Luxembourgish
Luxembourgish ( ; also ''Luxemburgish'', ''Luxembourgian'', ''Letzebu(e)rgesch''; Luxembourgish: ) is a West Germanic language that is spoken mainly in Luxembourg. About 400,000 people speak Luxembourgish worldwide.
As a standard form of th ...
crime
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
series created by , , and that premiered on 1 October 2019 on
RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg
RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg is the main television channel in Luxembourg, broadcasting in Luxembourgish. It is part of RTL Group.
History
The small television market in Luxembourg led to a unique system in Europe: Luxembourg was the only country in t ...
. ''Capitani'' is the first Luxembourgish crime series as well as the country's first Netflix series.
The first season was produced by Samsa Film, in collaboration with RTL and Artémis Productions, with support from Film Fund Luxembourg. Season 2 added Shelter Productions to its roster.
The show was acquired by
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
and began streaming on 11 February 2021.
It was renewed for a second season, again directed by Wagner.
Season 2 premiered on RTL on 22 February 2022 and began streaming on Netflix on 8 July 2022.
Synopsis
Season 1
The body of fifteen-year-old Jenny Engel is found in a forest near the fictional village of Manscheid (Mënscht), in the north of Luxembourg. Inspector Luc Capitani is called in from the south of the country to investigate the murder. He is assisted by young local police officer Elsa Ley. Capitani has difficulty dealing with the villagers' mentality. During their investigation, the two penetrate further into a complicated web of intrigue in which nothing is as it seems, and it becomes clear that the villagers know more than they admit. In the course of the investigation, Inspector Capitani must not only track down a murderer, but also understand the mindset of each individual resident and break open a system in which many people are manipulated for the "common good".
The story unfolds over the span of eight days.
Season 2
Four years after the events of Season 1, Capitani, who had been fired from the police force and convicted as an accessory to the murder of a drug dealer, has been released from prison due to inadequate evidence and is now living in a run-down area of
Luxembourg City
Luxembourg ( lb, Lëtzebuerg; french: Luxembourg; german: Luxemburg), also known as Luxembourg City ( lb, Stad Lëtzebuerg, link=no or ; french: Ville de Luxembourg, link=no; german: Stadt Luxemburg, link=no or ), is the capital city of the Lu ...
. He is hired by a sex worker to find a friend who has disappeared. Subsequently, he goes undercover for the prosecutor to investigate, and break up, the drug trade in the city.
Cast and characters
Principal and recurring
*
Luc Schiltz as Luc Capitani
* as Elsa Ley
* as Carla Pereira / Sofia Santos
* as Steve Weis
* as Jenny / Tanja Engel
* Joe Dennenwald as Joe Mores
Season 1
* as Nadine Kinsch
* as Mick Engel
* Raoul Schlechter as Rob Berens
* Pierre Bodry as Pastor Claude Glodt
* as Usch Trierweiler
* as Pierre Rommes
* as Manon Boever
* Esther Gaspart Michels as Lea Holmes
* as Gérard Gaspard
* Max Gindorff as Jerry Kowalska
* Timo Wagner as Frank Ferrone
*
Désirée Nosbusch
Désirée Nosbusch a.k.a. Désirée Becker (born 14 January 1965) is a Luxembourger actress and television presenter. She was born in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg to a Luxembourgish father and Italian mother. In the 1980s she lived in Manhattan, ...
as Diane Bonifas
* as Jim Boever
Season 2
*
Edita Malovčić as Valentina Draga
* Edson Anibal as Lucky Onu
* Tommy Schlesser as Arthur Koenig
*
André Jung as Gibbes Koenig
* Lydia Indjova as Bianca Petrova
* Adrien Papritz as Dominik Draga
* Céline Camara as Stella Abasi
* Philippe Thelen as Toni Scholtes
Episodes
The title of each episode of the first season is a line from poems and songs by Luxembourgish poet
Michel Lentz
Michel Lentz (21 May 1820 – 8 September 1893) was a Luxembourg poet. He is best known for having written '' Ons Hémécht'', the national anthem
A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of ...
, best known for composing the country's national anthem.
Production
The budget for the first season was 2.6 million Euros. Of this, €2.1 million came from the Film Fund Luxembourg, which had already supported the development of the script with €50,000 in 2017. RTL contributed €300,000, with the rest coming from Samsa Film and Artémis Productions.
In June–July 2020, Film Fund Luxembourg supported the script development of the second season with €120,000. In November 2020, FFL contributed another €1,300,000 towards filming. The total cost for the second season amounted to approximately €4 million.
The first season was set in the fictional village of Manscheid. Most of the filming took place in
Junglinster
Junglinster ( lb, Jonglënster) is a commune in central Luxembourg, which draws its name from its principal town, Junglinster. It is one of six communes in the Luxembourg canton of Grevenmacher. The 18th-century St Martin's church is a nationa ...
, with locations including the town of
Gonderange
Gonderange (, ) is a town in the commune of Junglinster, in central Luxembourg. , the town has a population of 1,735 inhabitants.
Cyclist Franz Neuens, who competed at the 1936 Summer Olympics
The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympisch ...
and
Bourglinster. Additional filming was done in
Wiltz
Wiltz ( lb, Wolz or (locally) ) is a commune with town status in north-western Luxembourg, capital of the canton Wiltz. Wiltz is situated on the banks of the river Wiltz. It was also a battleground in the Battle of the Bulge, near the en ...
,
Kopstal
Kopstal ( lb, Koplescht) is a commune and a small town in central Luxembourg. The towns of Kopstal and Bridel belong to this commune. Kopstal is a small town, with a population of 644 , located in a valley between forested hills situated beneath B ...
, and
Lintgen.
Season 2 was filmed from March to June 2021.
Reception
The first season of the series broke all records in its respective category on RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg. Polling firm TNS Ilres determined that an average of 147,500 viewers watched each episode upon its initial release, corresponding to 29% of the population of Luxembourg aged sixteen and over. A survey by InternetPanel.lu showed that 90.4% of viewers were interested in seeing a second season.
In a review, ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' wrote, "... Capitani proves to be a very well-paced series with complex storylines, slowly letting all the lies and secrets surrounding the small village unravel."
References
External links
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{{Authority control
Luxembourgish crime television series
Luxembourgish-language television shows
2010s crime television series
Television shows set in Luxembourg
Television shows filmed in Luxembourg
Luxembourgish-language Netflix original programming