“Fall for Me” is a sexy German thriller flavored with mystery and intrigue and set on the Spanish vacation island of Mallorca.
Director Sherry Hormann (“A Regular Woman,” “Desert Flower”) and screenwriter Stephanie Sycholt (“Themba”) get the sex and the scenery right. Its the “mystery,” “intrigue” and “thrills” that are the picture’s undoing.
Lilli, played by Svenja Jung, is a sexy 30ish German bank auditor — because in Germany there are such creatures — who travels to Mallorca to check in on younger sister Valeria (Tijan Marei). Vale has big plans. She’s bought into the idea of buying and running a finca as an inn with her new fiance.
Manu (Victor Meutelet)? He’s ready for these big steps because A) he’s in love her Vale and B) he’s managing a local hotel.
But to realize their dreams, Vale needs Lilli to sign off on selling their late mother’s seaside acreage and run-down estate. Lilli the bank auditor starts to wonder if this deal is exactly what it seems.
But there’s this distractingly handsome bartender Tom (Theo Thebs) who turns out to be the manager of a chic local nightclub. Their flirtation is hot, turning hotter still, all in the space of one steamy night on the balcony of that very nightclub.
But Lilli’s cautious. One more time, “Bank auditor.” She’s curious about this fancy finca her sister and Manu arranged for her to stay in. She’s suspicious of Manu’s motives and questions her sister’s judgement. She wonders about the real estate broker (Thomas Kretschmann of “The Pianist”) Nick, who seems in a hurry to rush this deal through.
And then she meets Manu’s ex (Anje Traue) and the scheme and the movie’s plot and our investment in it start to unravel. She hasn’t forgotten about Tom, but if she can’t guess how he connects to all this, she’s a lot slower than your average Netflix viewer.
It must cost a fortune to film on Mallorca, in and around the Riviera-chic small city of Palma. So director Hormann gives us Edenic beaches and rocky cliffs above the gin-clear sea, in addition to posh homes, a hotel and a club.
Lots of cool, upscale places to make out. Because that’s where this romance novel of a mystery’s emphasis is.
The performers are (mostly) credible, even if the situations and reactions to them are not.
Damn this script is dumb. We’re meant to buy into some ongoing real-estate grift involving pretty boy honey pots, with all the principals tucked on a tiny island with nowhere to lay low or hide out after the grift.
Lilli makes accusations and walks into what’s sure to be dangerous situations heedless of her peril. The few twists are as subtle as Chekhov’s gun, which makes its entrance in the first act, sure to take a curtain call in the third, as if the screenwriter just learned about it and tries to apply it to her latest assignment.
According to her credits, the South African Sycholt peaked early and has made a living concocting crap for decades since.
As for her latest? Sexual allure be damned, be smarter than Lilli. Don’t fall for it.
Rating: TV-MA, violence, sex, nudity, profanity
Cast: Svenja Jung, Theo Thebs, Tijan Marei, Victor Meutelet, Antje Traue, Lucía Barrado and Thomas Kretschmann.
Credits: Directed by Sherry Hormann. scripted by Stephanie Sycholt. A Netflix release.
Running time: 1:45
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