Popular couples therapy series “The Anders Family”
Kramer and Krassnitzer undergo couples therapy
The actor couple Ann-Kathrin Kramer and Harald Krassnitzer shine in the third “Ander Family” film as the problem-ridden couple Liv and Leander Herzog.
© ZDF/Steffen Junghans
In “The Anders Family” Ann-Kathrin Kramer and Harald Krassnitzer are in marital crisis. What does the couple think privately about couples therapy?
The time has finally come, the next two films in the clever TV series “Anders Family” (since March 2023) are on the program. “The Rose-Red Glasses” will be broadcast on April 7th and “Man Number 1” on April 14th from 8:15 p.m. on ZDF. The focus of the funny, entertaining and technically well-researched television films is the family of the Leipzig couples therapist Fabian Anders (Moritz Treuenfels, 35). It’s about your own marital problems with Paula Anders (Bettina Burchard, 37), the separation, the nest model for the children, surrogate grandparents, new partners, patchwork…
Celebrity couples come for therapy
A special highlight that the series creators came up with, in addition to this horizontal story, is that in each episode Fabian Anders will treat a couple who are played by a real couple of actors. In the opening episode “Welcome to the Nest” (March 12, 2023), Tom and Tess Scharper, played by Gisa Flake (38) and Knud Riepen (born 1981), sought his advice. In the second episode “Two are one too many” (March 19, 2023) it was Rebecca Renner and Mario Kortner. They were embodied by Bettina Zimmermann (49) and Kai Wiesinger (57).
The prominent guest couples in the next two episodes are Ann-Kathrin Kramer (58) and Harald Krassnitzer (63) as well as Natalie Spinell (41) and Felix Hellmann (45).
Ann-Kathrin Kramer and Harald Krassnitzer as the next celebrity couple
It starts with Kramer and Krassnitzer. The German actress and her Austrian colleague have been a couple in real life for 25 years and have been married since 2009. They commute between their residences in Salzburg and the Bergisches Land. “The Anders Family” is their seventh film project together. “It’s always a blessing for us when we’re together because we have to spend a lot of time when we’re not in the same place,” Krassnitzer enthuses about the collaboration in an interview with the broadcaster.
When working together, however, there is “a very clear and very strict discipline”: “Nothing from our relationship” is brought in, explains Krassnitzer, who has long since set himself a television monument as Viennese “Tatort” commissioner Moritz Eisner (since 1999). “We each have our own room, we concentrate on our work and leave out any form of privacy because we would consider that to be very unprofessional,” adds the native of Grödig.
What do Kramer and Krassnitzer think privately about couples therapy?
In “The Anders Family,” Kramer and Krassnitzer play the married couple Liv and Leander Herzog, who are in a toxic relationship and are looking for therapeutic help. The actor couple also has a positive attitude towards the topic of couples therapy in their private lives. “I think that every couple who plans to go a long way together should actually go to their couples therapist of choice once a year, twice a year,” Kramer tells ZDF and compares it to preventative “dental prophylaxis”.
And Krassnitzer adds about our own handling of conflicts: “We have actually developed such a fantastic technique for resolving our conflicts by simply doing what is most natural: namely arguing every now and then.” This is a “very beneficial invention” because it solves a lot. “That’s our secret recipe, so to speak,” he summarizes.
Kramer and Krassnitzer on narcissism in the acting industry
In “The Rose-Red Glasses”, therapist Fabian Anders diagnoses Leander’s narcissism as the cause of the marital problems. This too much self-absorption is often said about actresses and actors. Kramer and Krassnitzer don’t like “exactly this part of the job” and that’s why they try to “avoid it as much as possible” in order to “not fall into this trap,” says Kramer.
Rather, the two of them are “not at all of the opinion” that their profession somehow predestines them or enables them “for an exceptional position,” explains the actress, who, among others, appeared together with Elmar Wepper (1944-2023) in the family drama “I’ll carry you to the end End of the World” (2009) moved the audience. Instead, they both have a “strong tendency to retreat to a life beyond focus.” They have “completely different priorities” and life goals.
And Krassnitzer adds: “We have a very high level of awareness and a high level of gratitude for what we are allowed to do because we also perceive […]”How lucky we are to be able to pursue a profession where we can work with a great deal of passion and at the same time always receive a high level of response.”