Musician Lu is cynical, passive, angry, silly, a tough nut with a chronically extended middle finger and, in her own eyes, a loser. When she finds out she’s pregnant, she’s left with no choice but to move back to her mother’s place. Two years later, in season 2, Lu needs to sort herself out again. Now that Berta (played by Alice Gruia’s daughter) is going to kindergarten, she can finally concentrate on her own life again. But hang on a second—what was her life again? LU VON LOSER is a dark sadcom about a struggling mother who just can't fit in, an ode to failure.
Plot
Season 1: 8 x 4-12 min. / all together 55 min.
Season 2: 8 x 12-18 min. / all together 115 min.
Trailer Season 1
Trailer Season 2
Artwork
Reviews
These are snapshots of Lu’s life, miniatures painted with precise and minimal brushstrokes. By the end of almost an hour it feels like you’ve made a new friend and are left wanting to explore more of Lu’s world. Süddeutsche Zeitung
The portrayal is always accurate, well thought out and to the point. It’s the kind of heavy fare that’s served up with seemingly no effort. Serienjunkies
In terms of originality, Lu is definitely a sister in spirit to Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s “Fleabag”. The timing and humour is spot on. This is not only down to the sharpness of Gruia’s writing and characters, but also her acting and comedic talents. epd-film
The vision of the author and leading actor Alice Gruia can be felt in every single minute. It is clear from the smallest gestures of her character how precisely this concept was conceived and realised. Sadly, TV is rarely so thoroughly and coherently thought out as this. Quotenmeter
(Fun) facts
As much as Lu von Loser is about failure, it is in fact a success story and quite an unusual one at that. It’s the end of 2019 and Alice Gruia is pregnant with her second child. She decides not to wait anymore for the right broadcaster, the right production company. The right moment is now or never. And she has a deadline, her baby’s due date. A few weeks later, on February 1st, 2020, the camera starts rolling. There’s no money, but instead a small motivated team and maximum artistic freedom. The ZDF got on board when it was almost in the can. Everyone was paid retrospectively, post production could begin. The series has been shown at many international festivals such as Series Mania, Seriencamp, received awards, highly acclaimed in the media and nominated for the Deutscher Fernsehpreis and Grimmepreis. Happy End.
Credits
First season produced by Alice Gruia, second season in co-production with Letterbox Filmproduktion and with funding from Filmstiftung NRW
Cast: Alice Gruia, Martina Eitner-Acheampong,Jonas Baeck, Josephine Gruia, Bonnie Gruia, Andrei Viorel Tacu, Franziska Benz u.a.
Director, writer: Alice Gruia
Producer: Alice Gruia, Amadeus Erlemann
Director of Photography: Thorsten Schönrade
Editing: Vlad Litvak, Rafael Maier
Music: Tom Ashforth
Sounddesign: Jascha Viehl
Costume designer: Nina-Sophie Brettschneider
Set designer: Jessica Kaczmarek
Make-up designer: Anne Heinen
Casting: Marc Schötteldreier, Meike Schötteldreier
Casting Extras: Angel Pinar
Lights: Michael Matuschek
Sound: Tarik Badaoui, Andreas Herman
Production Management: Christopher Albrodt
TV commisioner: Lucia Haslauer, ZDF-Kleines Fernsehspiel
Grading: Yannick De Decker
VFX: Mick Mahler
and more fantastic crew members
