Bollywood has declined drastically. There are multiple reasons, most of which can be attributed to a shift in political ideology that occurred about a decade ago. The genre that suffered the most was romance, which was once the lifeblood of the Hindi entertainment industry. This year, it's experiencing a major resurgence—probably because the pendulum, as they say, is starting to swing the other way—and it got me thinking about how we took things for granted when decent, half-hearted romantic movies were so easily available. I mean, here I am watching Fall for Me, which is full of exotic locations, gorgeous people, and extremely sensual scenes, and yet it's still excruciatingly boring.
On the other hand, there's 2011's Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl, which basically had the same plot but was much more interesting, had great performances, and offered a fantastic song selection. Fall in Love with Me, by Sherry Hormann, written by Stefanie Sycholt, follows Lilli, a professional auditor who travels to Palma to visit her younger sister, Valeria. Almost immediately, she gets the shock of her life when she learns that Valeria is engaged to a shady man named Manu and intends to buy an expensive finca for her future bed-and-breakfast business.
Director: Sherry Hormann
Writer: Stefanie Sycholt
Stars: Svenja Jung, Theo Trebs, Thomas Kretschmann
Before Lilli can give it much thought, she's captivated by Tom, a "mysterious" waiter. Just when she thinks she's going to have a good time on this sunny island, the true plot unfolds: Lilli and Valeria own a huge property inherited from their late mother, and Valeria wants to sell it so she can buy the finca. Lilli is adamantly against it because, firstly, she believes the property shouldn't be sold just like that, and secondly, spending her fortune on a project she has no idea about instead of a university degree seems stupid. And before she can convince her sister to come to her senses, another plan is set in motion: using Tom's pelvic magic to prevent Lilli from using her brain.
Sycholt isn't ashamed to cite the Netflix documentary "The Tinder Scammer" as inspiration. But in an attempt to subvert the actual ending of that story, he creates this fantastical con man who changes his mind and decides to help the women he's scammed instead of leaving them in the dust, so Sycholt ends up remaking "Ladies vs. Ricky Bahl." That's fine; it's fine for women to encourage such delusions, because why should men have all the fun? The problem arises when Sycholt forgets to give the women in her story any personality or autonomy because she's too busy creating scenarios for sex scenes.
I mean, the women in Devika Bhagat and Habib Faisal's script at least team up to try to trick the con man. They don't succeed, but you learn a lot about these women's business. Meanwhile, Lilli and Valeria squirm like puppets until they see a dead body, and Tom, the "reluctant" con man, finally decides to be the "good guy." If your hero's transformation hinges on the heroine's helplessness after having seen countless women act similarly, I doubt it counts as halfway decent writing.
Fall for Me has no momentum. It just moves at a glacial pace until it concludes everything haphazardly. The editing during the film's climactic moment is so bad it actually made me laugh. The only other time Hormann got a reaction out of me was during a—I don't know what the "scientific" term is—furious sex scene. And the reaction was revulsion, because there are moments in that scene where it seems Lilli is running away from Tom and finally giving in because he is too persuasive and she simply can't resist. For lack of a better term, I found it a little rapey.
As for the rest of the risqué scenes, I'm sure they're all designed to titillate the audience, but I just found them uncomfortable. Maybe because I never believed the supposed chemistry between the characters. I know some filmmakers and audiences think nudity and sensuality go hand in hand; so if the actors are naked and constantly rubbing against each other, that must mean they're creating a romantic mood or something. Yeah, that's not the case at all. Just watch any Shah Rukh Khan film to know that.
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