Actress Ulrike Kriener: “Men” as a “brilliant career start shot”

In October 40 years ago, Doris Dörries (70) success film “Men” (1985) came to the cinemas. The relationship comedy with Heiner Lauterbach (72) and Uwe Ochsenknecht (69) also brought Ulrike Kriener (70) the breakthrough. She celebrated the anniversary “not really”, as the actress reveals in an interview with Spot on News. “But we celebrated Doris Dörries 70th birthday in the Literaturhaus Munich. That was a very nice evening – and of course we also talked about ‘men’ there,” she continues.

“Men” tells of Julius Armbrust (Lauterbach), a successful packaging designer who learns on the 12th wedding anniversary that his wife Paula (Kriener) is cheating on him with the freelance artist Stefan Lachner (Ochsenknecht). Julius moves incognito into Stefan’s flat share to regain Paula and transforms Stefan step by step into a businessman … Between rivalry and friendship, a comedy about men, relationships and vanity develops with a lot of wit and irony.

For Ulrike Kriener, the cinema success at the time was a turning point: “For me, it was an absolute stroke of luck for me that the film was so successful. It was a brilliant starting signal for my career as an actress and just a great gift,” she says.

This was followed by further cinema highlights such as “The Fischer and his wife” (2005), “Welcome to the Hartmanns” (2016) or finally “one million minutes” (2024). And she also became successful on television.

Between 2003 and 2023, Ulrike Kriener played the title role in the ZDF crime series “Commissioner Lukas”. Two years after the end of the series, she looks back full of warmth: “It’s far away, but I still like to think back.”

In fact, she recently returned to the central serial rotation as part of a private excursion. “I was recently with my husband in Regensburg because I was longing for this city. For me, these are the heart years of the series: the first seasons, the time with Thilo Brückner, Anke Engelke and the many other great colleagues,” she says.

It was nice to see the locations again “and to visit the café in which you could eat so well”. “I still love this little hotel and restaurant very much. I think back to ‘Commissioner Lukas’ with warm and beautiful feelings,” enthuses Kriener.

Kriener remains present after “Commissioner Lukas”. The two TV films “Mona and Marie” (2021, 2023) were last worth seeing, in which they performed together with Maren Kroymann (76). It is open whether there will be a sequel: “As’ Mona and Marie ”. But I very much hope that Maren Kroymann and I still turn together again. We both together – that just works wonderfully,” said Kriener.

Next, Ulrike Kriener can be seen in the title role of the TV film “Petra goes Baden” (September 28, 8:15 p.m., ZDF).

After two decades at the head of a successful company, Petra suddenly is torn from her structured everyday life – retirement caught her unprepared. For a long time she managed to delay the adventurous vacation that she had agreed to her husband Erik (Rolf Lassgård, 70) years ago. But now the trip can no longer be pushed. Since Petra deeply loathes surprises, she secretly transmits her former assistant Georgette (Lara Mandoki, 36) to organize the perfect trip. When Erik learns about this arrangement, a violent conflict between the two is inevitable …