Lena – Liebe meines Lebens

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, premiered on September 20, 2010.^[1]

Plot

Lena Sander is a good-hearted, spirited, attractive young woman. She lives in Cologne 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.

Cast

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.^[2] Scenes are shot at the MMC Studios in Hürth, 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.^[3] 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.^[4] 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.^[5]

Broadcast

The telenovela starts on September 20, 2010 in three European countries. Other than Germany, the show is shown in Austria 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. In January 2012 "Lena, Liebe meines Lebens" began on TV3 Latvia.

Broadcasters

Georgia	Lena-chemi cxovrebis sikvaruli	GDS	March 17, 2014		Monday to Friday
Germany	Lena – Liebe meines Lebens	ZDF	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.	January 23, 2012	Monday to Friday
Latvia	Lēna, mana mūža mīlestība	TV3 Latvia	January 2, 2012	?	Monday to Friday
Italy	Lena, l'amore della mia vita	RAI 3	December 6, 2012	?	Monday to Friday

External links

• Lena – Liebe meines Lebens at the Internet Movie Database

References