Netflix viewers ‘can’t stop watching’ latest thriller, which follows a ‘mysterious woman’s escape from her harrowing captivity’.
Based on Romy Hausmann’s bestselling German novel of the same name – Liebes Kind – the six-part series premiered on the streaming site last week.
Dear Child begins when an unknown woman gets struck by a car in a forest at night, with a ‘precocious and strange’ little girl accompanying her in the ambulance.
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The young child’s worrying comments about their past encourage nurses to alert the police – in turn prompting a 13-year-old missing persons case to finally be reopened.
A synopsis from Netflix says: “When Jasmin Grass (Kim Riedle) is kidnapped in a parking garage in the German thriller series Dear Child, she finds herself locked in a small windowless apartment in the middle of a northern German forest.
“Her abductor - whose face we never see - dyes her dark hair blonde and calls her ‘Lena.’ From that moment on, she’s forced to live according to his strict rules and look after ‘their’ young children, Hannah (Naila Schuberth) and Jonathan (Sammy Schrein).
“After five months, Lena manages to flee from her prison in a desperate and harrowing escape - but soon realizes she can’t hide from her perpetrator.”
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Netflix’s official fan site Tudum teased the show as being ‘as tense as Gone Girl’, also comparing the ‘dungeon-like scenario that the little girl describes back home’ to 2015 Brie Larson drama Room.
“In Dear Child, all the twisting roads and plots appear to point back to that dark forest — or do they?" it says.
Since debuting on 7 September, the series has had Netflix viewers hooked.
One person tweeted: “Finished Dear Child on Netflix and it was a fantastic watch. It immediately captivates you and you can’t stop watching.”
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Someone else said: “Guys, Watched #DearChild on Netflix last night - by far, one of the best binges I’ve had in years. True crime, psychological thriller, murder mystery all rolled up into 1 6-part miniseries. Very Josef Fritzl meets Room meets Gone Girl. Highly recommended it.”
A third wrote: “#DearChild on Netflix literally has me at the edge of my bed. Wheww.”
A fourth commented: “The way #DearChild sucks you right in. Creepy good.”
Director and head writer Isabel Kleefeld said in an interview with Netflix’s Die Woche that those behind the scenes felt the story was ‘special’ as it told the narrative from the victim’s perspective, ‘never the perpetrator's perspective'.
Co-writer and co-director Julian Pörksen added: “These are all damaged characters: people who are severely scarred by a crime and deal with it very differently. The perpetrator is often the focus of such series and is glorified as a mysterious, dark force. That's not the case with us.
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“And there is a main character who is extraordinary in every way. A girl who has a special view of the world, a special way of speaking, thinking and experiencing.”
Watch Dear Child on Netflix now.
Topics: TV and Film, Netflix
Jess Hardiman