Darn in Love - DVD

Film: Argentine biology student Miro (Pablo Aguilar) has a problem: he has fallen head over heels in love with actress Mercedes (Sandra Schlegel). However, she has no idea that he is just a simple student, but due to a misunderstanding thinks he is a famous Argentine filmmaker. Since as such he would actually have chances with his dream woman, Miro makes an absurd decision: he wants to make a film and have Mercedes play the leading role in it. In fact, he is able to secure financing and begin filming. But then Mercedes starts to develop romantic feelings for her co-star and not for the director. The fact that Miro is also constantly pursued by two film students who are making a documentary about the making of the film and constantly pestering the supposed director with technical questions about filmmaking doesn't make things any easier. And when Cupid does seem to take care of him, Miro's problems really begin.

Verflixt Verliebt is the directorial debut of Swiss filmmaker Peter Luisi (Ein Sommersandtraum), who has already revealed his penchant for unconventionally told love stories here. The realization of Miro's desperate attempts to win Mercedes' heart are greatest strength and weakness at the same time. Strength, as such an implementation is truly extremely original. Weakness, as it not only takes some getting used to, but is also a bit exhausting, which could quickly get on the nerves of many a viewer.

Telling a story in the form of a fake documentary is admittedly not a new idea. But the fact that the viewer sees the events through the camera of the film students documenting the shooting is only part of the story. The rest is made up of images from surveillance cameras, excerpts from Miro's film or TV reports. Luisi uses a wide variety of formats, from Super 8 to video, to create a veritable collage from which the story is then composed. This sometimes has extremely funny consequences, such as when Miro follows his beloved into a tram together with the cameraman, but the sound man stays behind and then follows his colleagues in a taxi. While an obviously intense discussion between Miro and Mercedes can be seen here, we only hear the sound from the taxi. It's original ideas like this that make the film worth watching.

Paired with some very quirky humour, it makes for a truly unusual romance. Alright, the acting of the actors sometimes seems a bit too much about authenticity and the staging threatens to get lost in chaos, especially towards the end. But whenever you get the feeling that Luisi has run out of ideas, he comes up with funny scenes again. For example, when the documentary crew is led through the production rooms they had to move to after the money tap was cut off. In such amusing moments, one readily forgives Luisi for minor humorous or stagy slips.

Although it is often obvious that Verflixt Verliebt is a debut film, the award-winning comedy is definitely an extremely inventive and original film. If you can get into the quirky narrative style with constantly changing picture format, you will definitely be entertained here. Recommended!

Picture + Sound: To judge the picture quality of the film proves to be almost impossible. Since there is constant switching back and forth between different shooting formats here, the quality of the footage keeps changing as well. But since this is a deliberately used stylistic device and part of the film, this should not be judged negatively. Since the moments captured on video predominate, it can at least be said that they leave an overall positive impression. The same goes for the unspectacular stereo sound mix, which doesn't offer any big aha experiences, but is perfectly adequate for what the film wants to tell. Good.

Extras: In addition to three interviews with the director and his two leads, the DVD has a few cut scenes, a short making of, and the theatrical and TV trailers for the film to offer. The extras are all in Swiss German, but are overall quite decent to understand even for those viewers who only know High German. Good!

Conclusion: Verflixt Verliebt is an originally told love story, but one that requires the viewer to engage with the narrative style, which can be a bit taxing at times. The story itself is nice and is charmingly and amusingly conveyed by the actors. But in direct comparison with Luisi's last work A Summer's Dream, this comedy seems more like a somewhat labored finger exercise. If you like quirky comedies that defy the usual viewing habits by their staging alone, you will definitely get your money's worth here!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp