Lena - Liebe meines Lebens
Encyclopedia
Lena - Liebe meines Lebens (Lena - Love of my Life) is a German
telenovela
, starring Jessica Ginkel and Max Alberti. It is an adaption of the Argentine
telenovela Don Juan y Su Bella Dama
, created by Claudio Villarruel and Bernarda Llorente. The telenovela, produced by the international production company Endemol
, premieres on September 20, 2010.
since her birth and became a trained clerical worker. Lena doesn't enjoy this profession much, which leads her to switch from job to job. Lena lives with her boyfriend of six years, Tony Weiss, and with his eight-year-old son Luca, whom she loves as she would her own child, and her parents Frank and Pia live together with her younger brother Michael right across the street. Lena has a normal life with which she is more or less happy. But the day Lena meets Amelie von Arensberg, her life is about to change. After a bad day, Lena almost runs over Amelie with her bicycle. Lena brings the confused countess home, where she meets Amelie's grandson David. Between Lena and the composer, sparks begin to fly - but both are already in a relationship.
, Schloss Gymnich and in downtown of Cologne.
Even though the show is an adaption from the Argentine original, a few story points where revisited and changed for the German audience. Producer Quirin Berg said that they needed to make the changes because the original was a primetime format in which social violence played a huge part. Berg said that they needed to make the adaption more European. Conflicts between men and women and crimes in the police service wouldn't have been realistic enough for German standards.
and Switzerland
. Austria has the first broadcast at 2:25 pm, followed by Germany at 4:15 pm and Switzerland at 4:55 pm. The telenovela serves as a co-production between these three countries, with the ZDF as main contributor and partner with Endemol. In all three countries Lena - Liebe meines Lebens is taking over the time slot of the telenovela Hanna - Folge deinem Herzen. In Estonia this famous telenovela began in May 2011 on TV3 Estonia.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
telenovela
Telenovela
A telenovela is a limited-run serial dramatic programming popular in Latin American, Portuguese, and Spanish television programming. The word combines tele, short for televisión or televisão , and novela, a Spanish or Portuguese word for "novel"...
, starring Jessica Ginkel and Max Alberti. It is an adaption of the Argentine
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
telenovela Don Juan y Su Bella Dama
Don Juan y Su Bella Dama
Don Juan y Su Bella Dama is an Argentine 2008.-2009. telenovela, created and produced by Telefe. In this telenovela, lead roles were portrayed by Joaquin Furriel and Romina Gaetani....
, created by Claudio Villarruel and Bernarda Llorente. The telenovela, produced by the international production company Endemol
Endemol
Endemol is an international television production and distribution company based in the Netherlands, with subsidiaries and joint ventures in 23 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Poland,...
, premieres on September 20, 2010.
Plot
Lena Sander is a good-hearted, spirited, attractive young woman. She lives in CologneCologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
since her birth and became a trained clerical worker. Lena doesn't enjoy this profession much, which leads her to switch from job to job. Lena lives with her boyfriend of six years, Tony Weiss, and with his eight-year-old son Luca, whom she loves as she would her own child, and her parents Frank and Pia live together with her younger brother Michael right across the street. Lena has a normal life with which she is more or less happy. But the day Lena meets Amelie von Arensberg, her life is about to change. After a bad day, Lena almost runs over Amelie with her bicycle. Lena brings the confused countess home, where she meets Amelie's grandson David. Between Lena and the composer, sparks begin to fly - but both are already in a relationship.
Protagonists
- Lena Sander (Jessica Ginkel) - Lena is the heroine, whose life begins to change once she crosses path with Amelie von Arensberg.
- David von Arensberg (Max Alberti) - David is described as a womanizer, who enjoys life and his wealth in every way he can.
Main cast
- Amelie von Arensberg (Johanna Liebeneiner) - Amelie is the good-hearted grandmother of David, who begins to suffer under her age.
- Tony Weiss (Kostas Sommer) - Tony is Lena's boyfriend, who has a very dark character under the surface.
- Vanessa Meyer (Janina Flieger) - Vanessa is having an affair with David as she finds out that he is the son of her lover Rafael.
- Rafael von Arensberg (Urs Remond) - Rafael is the father of David and son to Amelie, who tries to scheme out of the castle.
- Pia Sander (Jenny Jürgens) - Pia is Lena and Michael's mother and married to their father Frank.
- Frank Sander (Joachim Raaf) - Frank is Lena and Michael's father and married to their mother Pia. He's cheating on his wife with his colleague Gaby Keller.
- Michael Sander (Felix Bold) - Michael is Lena's younger brother and dating Jasmin Blohm.
- Conny Küppers (Annika Ernst) - Conny is Lena's best friend.
Minor cast
- Gaby Keller (Isabella Schmid) is the secret affair of Lena's father Frank.
- Luca Weiss (Kilian Krüll) is the son of Lena's boyfriend Tony.
- Janka Kovac (Mila Kostadinovic) is Luca's mother, who he believes is dead.
- Jasmin Blohm (Barbara Prakopenka) is Michael's girlfriend.
- Linda Behrendt (Isabel Varell) is Lena's aunt and the sister of her mother Pia.
- Tom Lorenz (Thomas M. Held) is David's best friend.
- Peter Evers (Mirco Reseg) is a colleague of Gaby Keller and Lena's father Frank.
Production
After their two previous telenovelas, Alisa - Folge deinem Herzen and Hanna - Folge deinem Herzen, had problems to get recognized by viewers as something different from previous shows, the ZDF channel partnered with Endemol to adapt the Argentine telenovela Don Juan y Su Bella Dama. The result, originally named Lena - Melodien der Liebe, found its German developer with Günter Overmann and his writing team, who promised to create something new in the flavorless German telenovela world, while retaining the warm style all ZDF telenovelas, except for Alisa - which seemed had a cold, re-run feel. The production started on June 30, 2010 in Cologne. Scenes are shot at the MMC Studios in HürthHürth
Hürth is a town in the Rhein-Erft-Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Hürth shares borders with the city of Cologne.-Geography:Hürth is situated about 9 km to the southwest of Cologne city centre, at the northeastern slope of the natural preserve Kottenforst-Ville.The town, consisting of...
, Schloss Gymnich and in downtown of Cologne.
Even though the show is an adaption from the Argentine original, a few story points where revisited and changed for the German audience. Producer Quirin Berg said that they needed to make the changes because the original was a primetime format in which social violence played a huge part. Berg said that they needed to make the adaption more European. Conflicts between men and women and crimes in the police service wouldn't have been realistic enough for German standards.
Broadcast
The telenovela starts on September 20, 2010 in three European countries. Other than Germany, the show is shown in AustriaAustria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. Austria has the first broadcast at 2:25 pm, followed by Germany at 4:15 pm and Switzerland at 4:55 pm. The telenovela serves as a co-production between these three countries, with the ZDF as main contributor and partner with Endemol. In all three countries Lena - Liebe meines Lebens is taking over the time slot of the telenovela Hanna - Folge deinem Herzen. In Estonia this famous telenovela began in May 2011 on TV3 Estonia.
Broadcasters
| Country | Alternate title/Translation | TV network(s) | Series premiere | Series finale | Weekly schedule |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Germany |
Lena - Liebe meines Lebens | ZDF ZDF Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues... |
September 20, 2010. | June 21, 2011 | Monday to Friday |
 Austria |
Lena - Liebe meines Lebens | ? | September 20, 2010. | ? | Monday to Friday |
 Switzerland |
Lena - Liebe meines Lebens | ? | September 20, 2010. | ? | Monday to Friday |
 Estonia |
Lena, mu elu armastus | TV3 Estonia | May 16, 2011. | ? | Monday to Friday |