Theatrical release - Famous at any price - Verhoeven's Milli Vanilli film
The story of Milli Vanilli began 35 years ago in Munich - but a few years later it was already over. The reason: possibly the biggest cheating scandal in pop history. When it became known in the early 1990s that Robert "Rob" Pilatus and Fabrice "Fab" Morvan had never sung their hits themselves, but had only moved their lips to the voices of others, an outcry went through the music world.
Director Simon Verhoeven ("Männerherzen") is now bringing the story behind this scandal to the big screen. His film is called "Girl You Know It's True", just like Milli Vanilli's biggest hit. A fitting title for a movie about playing with truth and illusion.
Back to the beginnings
It begins with "Rob" and "Fab" sitting on the sofa in a rock star-style hotel room, looking back and talking about what they have experienced together. It's a kind of limbo. Because by the time the two talk to each other, it is already clear that one of them is dead. Pilatus died back in 1998, marked by his drug addiction.
But Verhoeven's film then goes back to the beginning. He tells of Pilate's childhood as a black adopted child, who is demonstratively led around the neighborhood by his white parents, never felt like he belonged and desperately searched for love and acceptance.
The fact that the Frenchman "Fab" is also on this desperate search is perhaps one reason why the two boys become friends so quickly and - at least that's how the film tells it - also why they allow themselves to be so seduced by fame and what it brings with it. "Dance With A Devil" is one of Milli Vanilli's hits: dance with a devil.
Verhoeven stages Frank Farian not quite as a devil, but to a certain extent as a counterpart to the bona fide boys from difficult backgrounds. Matthias Schweighöfer plays the discoverer and producer of Milli Vanilli - who eventually made the fraud public - not as an evil antagonist, but as someone who has allowed himself to be seduced by fame and who is driven by the ambition to conquer the USA musically.
Lots of humor and authenticity
The contrast between the glittering dream world of Los Angeles and chicken farming and potato soup in the German provinces gives rise to some of the many humorous moments in this lovingly narrated and well-designed film.
Verhoeven, who also wrote the screenplay, attaches great importance to reviving the dazzling 80s and 90s and to the greatest possible resemblance to the originals. Tijan Njie as "Rob" and Elan Ben Ali as "Fab" come very close to the two real members of the successful duo - also thanks to the attention to detail in the set design.
This is another reason why the film succeeds in taking the audience on a "rollercoaster ride", as Verhoeven calls the story of the meteoric rise, the intoxicating success and the hard crash on the ground. "This story has everything," he told the German Press Agency in an interview - and added, referring to the duo's iconic outfits: "It's a bit of Shakespeare in cycling shorts."
A new perspective
When he was a teenager, he saw them dancing in Munich's posh P1 club, he said. This is probably one of the reasons why he has put so much heart and soul into this film and why he has taken a clear stance.
He does not portray the successful duo as greedy and unscrupulous, as they were often portrayed after the scandal came to light, but as scapegoats who were the only ones who had to pay for a fraud that so many people made money from.
His film fits in well with today's world. "This topic of becoming famous at any price is a topical one," said Verhoeven at the world premiere in Munich. "The film asks a lot of interesting questions about our time," he said, also with regard to the influencer phenomenon. One of these questions is whether the scandal surrounding Milli Vanilli would even be one in this day and age, when people become famous by moving their lips to other people's music on TikTok.
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Source: www.stern.de
