It Truly pays

The crime film is one of the most popular genres in the cinema and on television. And, as with every genre film, clear expectations are generally met: in the crime film there are murderers, victims and investigators, and at the end the bad guys are either dead, or at least in prison. Exceptions prove the rule. The connection between crime and voyeuristic curiosity that exploits our ambivalent relationship to evil has inspired an entire series of well-known film makers, both in the mainstream area as well as in auteur theories using feature films, but also serials that run for a season or indefinitely, the exhibition explores the different kinds of crime films: ranging from the classic “whodunit?” to the political crime film, the serial killer and to team crime, in which the gangsters are often the more popular figures. “Crime pays” shows how excitement and terror are generated and reveals the decisions that make a film into what it ultimately is.