Recommendations of the Editorial team
In an unpublished series, Christian Ulmen is said to have used many of the things Collien Fernandes accused him of as story elements. The format called “The Au Pair” includes digital identities, intimate imagery or secrets within a marriage. “Die Zeit” reported this on Thursday.
The newspaper claims to have had insights into various scripts from the Joyn series, but cannot explicitly report on them or quote from them because the scripts for “The Au Pair” have disappeared into the poison cabinet and are subject to copyright.
Fahri Yardim, who recently broke up with his “Jerks” friend Christian Ulmen, can also be seen alongside Ulmen in “The Au Pair”.
Parallels to the Ulmen-Fernandes case
In fact, many of the storylines described by “Zeit” have parallels to the Ulmen-Fernandes case. “The Au Pair” is set on Mallorca, in a world of wealthy German emigrants who have built a new life for themselves on the island – Ulmen and Fernandes also took this step themselves years ago.
The focus is on a couple whose relationship is characterized by dependencies and tensions. She works as a doctor, he looks after the children and struggles with his self-image. The feeling of being left behind turns into frustration, which he tries to overcome therapeutically. He finds himself in a milieu in which men offer sexual services to wealthy older women.
Further storylines lead into other problematic areas: the son of the family becomes a target of his classmates online, while the mother makes a serious mistake during an operation.
Porous boundary between character and actor
When reading many passages, the “Zeit” researchers got an impression that was already familiar from “Jerks”: the dividing line between character and actor appears porous. A psychologist diagnoses the main character with a disturbed perception of reality and imagination, and she later admits to compulsive lying. Some details seemed irritatingly precise in retrospect – for example when a minor character had the name of Ulmen’s former partner.
A scene between the son Lasse and his girlfriend is particularly impressive: he reveals that he has shared intimate pictures of her in online forums and confronts her with comments from strangers. His reasoning points to a dynamic in which digital spaces not only reflect fantasies but also reinforce them.
Christian Ulmen himself has not yet responded to the report.
