One of my favorite things about paying for a Netflix subscription has always been the access it gives you to international content that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to enjoy. And I’m certainly not alone; millions of Netflix viewers in the U.S. clearly have a similar appetite for the streaming giant’s global fare, as evidenced by the fact that “Fall for Me,” a sultry German-language film set in sunny Mallorca, has climbed to the #4 spot on Netflix’s Top 10 movies list in the U.S. (according to the daily ranking inside the app itself). Flixpatrol, for what it’s worth, currently has the movie at #1 on Netflix — a ranking I very much doubt, considering that “KPop Demon Hunters” is still riding high and in fact just broke yet another record. But that’s neither here nor there.
Netflix — in its press material, at least — is positioning the new German movie (directed by Sherry Hormann) like a sort of cross between “365 Days” and “The Tinder Swindler.” In other words: Think sexy thriller mixed with deceit and betrayal. The story is focused on two sisters, a marriage engagement, and a luxury bed-and-breakfast scheme that we come to learn might not actually be on the up-and-up. Add a mysterious club manager, plus the seduction of a one-night stand, and you can start to see why this one is climbing up the charts.
A new German-language thriller scoring big on Netflix
As for what “Fall for Me” is about: The story follows Lilli (Svenja Jung), who arrives in Mallorca to visit her younger sister Valeria (Tijan Marei) after a breakup. The younger sister breaks the news that she’s engaged to a Frenchman named Manu (Victor Meutelet, from “Emily in Paris”) — and not only that, the two of them also want to turn the family’s property into a bed-and-breakfast business. Lilli, however, is still heartbroken over the death of their mother and doesn’t want to go along with the plan, setting up an impasse between the siblings.
Things get even more complicated when Lilli meets a club manager who starts up a romance with her — and that guy, of course, brings his own secret agenda to the whole mess.
Long story short, this one is a breezy binge that combines sumptuous visuals and beautiful cinematography with a pulpy storyline. That places “Fall for Me” very much in the tradition of other German Netflix productions that have found a wide international audience, including shows like “Dark,” “Kleo,” and “How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast).” I don’t know about you, but I’ll certainly never say no to a seductive thriller set against the backdrop of European glamour.
