"Half the people think I'm shit"
Berlin-Friedrichshain, an old building. This is where Sarah Kuttner's management sits, and here, in the conference room, behind a small pot of coffee and a pack of cigarettes, sits Sarah Kuttner herself. The television miracle of the first seven, eight years of the century is now almost 37 years old, but you can see that not a bit. There is still something girlish about her. Small, she is slim, the body almost disappears in her light sweater with the narrow black horizontal stripes. The hairstyle looks a bit rushed and undecided, but her eyes have a vivid luminosity that is not so often found.
Kuttner, a decade ago with her original, very fast Kodderschnauze still the future of television, yes, the figurehead of a whole generation of women, has just published her third novel. He is called "180 ° Meer" and he tells about Jule. "I am not a beautiful person, my aura is somehow tooth-colored," begins the book, whose leading actress does not like herself or the rest of the world. Her depressed mother wanted to kill herself and Jule when the child was six, her father is so absent that he no longer exists for her. Jule likes the sea, but only on gray days. And she likes sex, but she does not suffer from the birds, so she does not look so close to physical loyalty. And that costs her for the time being her relationship with her boyfriend Tim.
As in her first novels "Defective Copy" and "Growth Pain", there is a different tone in this book than the one you know from TV-Ms. Kuttner. It's also about a kind of person who has no business on television: an unsympathetic, misanthropic woman around the age of 30. And how can Sarah Kuttner suffer? Yes, she says, "I like broken people, but only when they do not pretend to be anything but broken Jule has given up, but she shows you her pus."
She became a star with her sly, funny and snotty style
Anyone who writes Romane, Elke Heidenreich once said, always makes use of the quarry of his own life. Well, says Kuttner: "The book is zero autobiographical, but up to the top full with me." She says: Like her anti-hero Jule, her parents are divorced, as she lived in London for a while. And like her, she bought herself a buggy dog. But that's about it. "In principle, I can sympathize with Jule's anger and contempt, but it has nothing to do with me," says Kuttner.
Jule disappears after separating from her boyfriend to London. There, where Sarah Kuttner was sent after her graduation. Jürgen Kuttner, her father and one of the most well-known radio hosts in East Germany, once said: "The problem was that Sarah was hanging around after graduation and found herself cool and had a fan group around her who also found her cool." He did not want to educate a "spoiled middle class gull." Buttoned her off a bit of rent. Convinced with gentle paternal pressure to go to England, which was suspicious of the daughter. "I did not think I was that cool, I just did not know what I wanted, I've always been ambitious," she says. But London did her good. There she met the England correspondent of the "Spiegel". And allowed him to do an internship for six months. So it started with Sarah Kuttner and the media.
After her return she went to "Fritz", the legendary Berlin youth radio station. Became an intern, then a freelancer. Was cast in late 2001 by the music channel Viva and there, in the heyday of the music television, with their sly, funny and snotty style, the star. And to the model of many women between 16 and 25 - as quick-witted, as sexy, as confident as the Kuttner they wanted to be. From 2004 she had a show that bore her name. "We were the kings of the world on our small plane for two years," she says, "we knew that, and we behaved like that - all the cool indie bands - here! Most popular person in the year review - Sarah Kuttner 2nd place behind Jürgen Klinsmann! " The whole editorial team was a family for them, and all were permanently under power. "That was great," says Kuttner, "but I would not want that today, I do not want to burn like that anymore." In fact, her television career continues to simmer on a smaller flame. Present she was always with new formats, but only with "Bambule" on ZDFneo 2011 she appeared again regularly on the screen. And finally with "Kuttner plus two".
It fascinates her that she has been there for 15 years. She does not regret anything that she did during that time, "I'm so fussy and strict with myself, I did not slip through anything that I'm ashamed of." She does not look back, even for self-protection.Kuttner has a tendency to melancholy, she can not let go, changes are an evil to her. "I am a blatant habit-animal, I also hold things that are slowly bungling and getting bad."
The new novel was a kind of job creation measure
There is something contradictory about her. On the one hand there is their need for security ("I have more insurances than a human needs"). On the other hand, she works for television, not just the most enduring industry in the world. On the one hand, she is a control freak ("I constantly question other people's choices, that's totally disagreeable"), on the other hand, she has no master plans, either for her life or for the day ahead of her. "I'm not disciplined and ambitious enough," she says. "I only have one cigarette, one episode of 'Friends' and one dog that has to go out."
The new novel was a kind of job creation measure. Last January, she had a break and got bored, remembering a first sentence she once wrote and still liked. Kuttner worked secretly on it, her publisher learned of "180 ° sea" only when the book was finished. If only nobody comes up with the idea to make a contract and set a deadline. "I do not want to, I just want to," she says, "pressure makes me uncomfortable." But it came from the inside: "I had the feeling that I had to do something in the morning, but at the same time I wanted to drink more coffee, pop and watch more 'friends', which I then allowed myself to do and set the rule: I do not have to start until three in the afternoon. "
In the book, she lets Jule say about another woman, "Maybe she's just unbelievable about life in general and herself, a state I abhor abysmally, because I just can not make it for myself." When it comes to criticism, this also applies to Sarah Kuttner. "Not only do I get good reviews," she says. "And when I read something bad about myself, I feel caught up in my inadequacy, such a nonsense, why do I believe others more than myself?" Half of the people, Sarah Kuttner once said, "Fuck me." This is a phenomenon she has been dealing with publicly for half a lifetime. "That's no fun, still not, I wish I was cool enough not to let myself be touched by it, but I do not believe anyone who claims that it leaves him cold."
In the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung" it was about her: "That certain something" in her was a vacuum, "a nothing that Kuttner works up with a lot of talent and courage". Kuttner, the icon of a generation without content? That hurts her. Because her heart is in her programs, her books, her columns. She has not found a way not to let it hurt her. "A bunch of people outside think: Get out and die," she says, "that's really tough, but well paid."
She would like a thicker coat
She is well paid well, she is very aware of that. "But much of it is pain and suffering for everyone to have an opinion about me." Apart from that, she has a luxurious life: "At times, I work a lot in a job that I know quite well, but then there are times when I can sleep late and sometimes I do not know if it's weekend or weekday Great, and I'm grateful for that, so I gladly accept the few downsides. " Still, she would like a thicker coat. "But it has to be a faux fur so that no animals die for it."
She is just 36 years old. "There are many signs in my life that make me grow up," says Sarah Kuttner. I have a car, a dog, an egg cutter, I do not feel like 16 anymore, but sometimes, when I'm in my car, I chuckle inside and think, I. In my car, for that I'll transfer the liability insurance right away, unbelievable, I do what the big kids do. "
She says that she loves her life as it is, but she does not talk about if there is anyone in it. For something that does not exist. She likes children but owns? "They do not touch me," she says. "My girlfriends, who have children, always hold theirs for me, in the hope that this will turn the switch on, but I do not get milk when I smell baby's heads." She looks across the table from her big, bright eyes, helpless. "And it would have to be to have a child, would not it?" The nice thing is: you can not want to. Sarah Kuttner knows that well.
Sarah Kuttner - Woman under power
Sarah Kuttner, born 1979 in Berlin-Friedrichshain, was cast after a year at the Berlin youth radio Fritz 2001 as a presenter of the music channel Viva. After that she worked in various talk and moderation formats for various channels. From the 4th of February she will be back on ZDFneo with "Kuttner plus Zwei".In addition, she has made a name for herself as an author: after two column books appeared "deficiency copy" (2009) and "growth pain" (2011); both bestsellers are filmed. Just appeared: "180 ° sea". Sarah Kuttner likes to knit, lives with a dog in Berlin and is silent about her relationship status.
Sarah Kuttner's new novel
Jule is a disaster. Like nothing and nobody cheats on her boyfriend and loses him, drives to her brother in London - and starts to face her problems. Highly interesting character study of a failing person - no light fare, but worth reading. (272 p., 18.99 euros, S. Fischer)
