Now Milli Vanilli don't sing in the movies either

They come from Munich, call themselves Milli Vanilli and climb the pop Olympus at the end of the 80s. The fall from grace is all the greater when it emerges that the duo don't actually sing. The film "Girl You Know It's True" now deals with the scandal - lovingly and with humor.

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, known among other things for the film "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.

Between dream world and potato soup

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.

This is what the real Milli Vanilli looked like.

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. 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.

"Shakespeare in cycling shorts"

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 says - and adds, looking at the duo's iconic outfits: "It's a bit of Shakespeare in cycling shorts."

When he was a teenager, he saw them dancing in Munich's posh P1 club, he says. 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.

A scandal that wouldn't be one today?

He does not portray "Rob" and "Fab" 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 says, 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 the music of others on TikTok.

Read also:

In the world of entertainment, the film "Girl You Know It's True" explores the pop music scene, drawing inspiration from Milli Vanilli's hit of the same name. The movie delves into the use of lip-synching in the music industry, an issue that Milli Vanilli faced in their heyday.

The movie "Girl You Know It's True" also highlights the diverse backgrounds of Milli Vanilli members Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan, their quest for acceptance, and their friendship that was perhaps fueled by their shared aspirations in the Music industry, with its glitz and fame.

Source: www.ntv.de