Brϋhl Makes Lying Lovely

The German film, “My Words, My Lies, My Love” (“Lila, Lila”) creates a mood from the very beginning that attaches you to it and the characters by immediately putting you in their world. The film was received wonderfully at the screening at the Hamptons International Film Festival; the audience was reactive to the film, laughing out loud at scenes, and gasping at others. The characters are so carved out and likeable that you are keen to see their stories play out. It is a story about one man’s journey to love, but also about deceptions and how they weave their way in and out of our lives.

At the heart of this film is Daniel Brϋhl, who made a splash in this year’s Tarantino hit “Inglourious Basterds” as a despicable SS officer. Brϋhl performance is quite a departure from that role, as this time he plays the lead character David Kern. We open to see Kern trying to escape going out on stage in front of hundreds of people, and we are involved right away, laughing at his unsuccessful attempt at exiting through a window. The film then back tracks to show Kern, a waiter and a hopeless romantic. There’s nothing doing with Kern’s life; he lives a humdrum existence. This comes off quite comical because he does things like fill his fish tank and drink wine out of mugs, which incites laughs because Kern is content with his situation.

This all changes when he bumps into a woman named Marie (played by Hannah Herzsprung in a wonderfully sincere performance) at a street sale.

Marie, who frequents the restaurant Kern is a waiter at, is a sassy bargainer at the street sale and convinces Kern to purchase a nightstand- which he immediately does. When he brings the nightstand home, he discovers an unpublished manuscript of a novel in one of the drawers. Kern decides to present the novel to Marie as his own work, but has no intention of getting it published or trying to pass it off as his own in any other way. The shortsightedness of Kern is what makes him so endearing as a character; all he cares about at that moment is that Marie is falling for him and starting to feel the same way he has felt about her since he met her.

Of course, the novel entitled “Lila, Lila” will get published by Kern, after the urgings of his true love, Marie. You like Kern because he doesn’t try and claim the novel as his own for money or fame, but for the love of a girl. Kern will then get very familiar with the complications of trying pass off another’s work as his own later on however; as someone appears in the film who claims to be the author (Kern thought he was dead). The film is much about the practice of deception and lies, and if there is ever a good reason to be someone who you are not, even for a moment in time.

Director Alain Gsponer has an uncanny ability to get shots of the characters, which are revealing and appropriate to the scene, using close-ups in a comical way and shooting characters from the back to make us anticipate what will happen next. The look of the film is polished and smoothly transitions from scene to scene, even as the tone shifts drastically. It is unusual for a film to go from happy and lighthearted, to serious and sad and then back again, (and actually work) but this film pulls it off with flying colors.

Part of the reason the film seems to go that extra mile in working so well, is that the cast is phenomenal. They all have chemistry and are believable in every scene and scenario. Brϋhl especially brings magic to the role of Kern, and is an actor who will be heard from much more in the near future.

“My Words, My Lies, My Love” takes us on Kern’s journey from a no one to a renowned and sought after author who can’t actually write a line of a story. Kern’s story will touch anyone who has done something outrageous for love and found themselves in a sticky situation because of it.