Andrea Sawatzki and Christian Berkel: You don’t play a lovers again

Andrea Sawatzki (61) and Christian Berkel (67) stood together in front of the camera for many films in the course of their career, but a real lover has never played the couple who has married since 1997. “It is no intention that this has not yet happened,” the actor explains in an interview with the news agency Spot on News. “If the script fits, we also like to play a couple of lovers.”

This Wednesday the couple can be seen as a brother and sister for the first time in the TV drama “Quertress” (February 12, 8:15 p.m., the first one). The siblings Ulrike and Andreas are confronted with the death of their father Joachim (Rainer Kühn), who takes his life shortly before the big garden party for his 80th birthday. The film shows what the shocking event with the two siblings, the grandchildren of the deceased, medical student Clemens (Thomas Prenn, 30) and student Stella (Stella Kann), or the sister -in -law Bernadette (Ursula Werner, 81 ) might.

Why the actor couple Sawatzki and Berkel, who most recently celebrated great success together with comedies such as the “Beginner” series, wanted to make this serious film by director and Adolf Grimme award winner Nicole Weegmann (born 1966, “Mobbing”) , explain in a double interview.

Christian Berkel: “Quertress” is not a film about suicide or death, but about life. What does it do with people when they are thrown back to themselves in an extreme life situation? Many people fear that something very bad happens at the moment when difficult topics are made. Instead, experience has shown that a door opens and not. It is more the case that you struck them beforehand. And I’m afraid as long as you exclude difficult topics, you run away from it, but fate runs afterwards. You always have it on the neck. It may be better, you stop, turn around and look.

Andrea Sawatzki: It was also important to us to make a film about the problem of aging here in Germany. We came up with the idea for this film after reading a newspaper article, which was about the age of the suicide rate at the highest. All of our friends and we were completely wrong, because the highest suicide rate is in men over 75. It was so shaken by both because it is not spoken about it and about the loneliness of the people of this age. They come from a generation that has not learned to talk about problems. Instead, it was kept silent. This behavioral pattern will be carried onto the next generation and at some point the family may face a pile of broken glass. We wanted to make a film about this silence.

Berkel: This silence affects a lot of families. On the one hand, we are clearly shaped by the things that we consciously perceive and experience in the family, with friends and in society. But I believe that we are at least as strong, if not more shaped by things that are kept secret. Even in conversations, so much happens between the lines. I imagine it like a book where a page is always missing. Many people suddenly come across gaps in their families or in their lives that they cannot explain. And instead of questioning this, it is simply leafed away – to stay in the picture. At some point you no longer understand the context and then it will be really difficult.

Berkel: This is very valuable. Instead of speaking of “good” or “bad” mothers or fathers, one could also ask the question of whether they are “good enough”. Because nobody is ever perfect. Rather, it should be about whether we are “sufficient in our efforts”. Because it would be pretty nice.

Sawatzki: Through this silence, family members in our film were not possible to improve. In this way, only this one picture that they have. In Ulrike’s case of the mother, who has only compared her and treated poorly with herself. And in Andreas’ Fall from the father who does not trust the son to make the hoped -for career. I think if the family had spoken to each other, there would have been a lot more facets in the parents.

Berkel: Yes, because it is worked so often with stencils. Often it says with conflicts: there are always two. That is also true, but on the other hand, it often leads to you say: Yes, but my role is more difficult. With this approach you can’t get any further. The only thing that can really help is to describe your own position, not that of the other. It makes no sense to keep the other what he or she did wrong. You should stay with yourself and articulate your own problems. Then the other gets the opportunity to name his problem. And so you can move towards each other.

Sawatzki: Yes, that was already in the script by Esther Bernstorff. This should underline the close connection between the two. The similar hair color is an external indication that the two are very close. The aunt is the only one who can open the girl opposite himself. It is the strongest caregiver; It is almost a mother-daughter relationship. But there are still two who were very close in this family: grandfather Joachim and his grandson Clemens.

Sawatzki: Can still be. In this case, I actually found it more exciting to play Christian’s sister.

Berkel: In any case, it is not an intention that this has not yet happened. If the script fits, we also like to play a couple of lovers.

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