Milli Vanilli: Standing ovation for the impostors – Munich

So this is what the big journey through time looks like: From the Mathäser Filmpalast with a thousand guests dressed in winter clothes, we go straight to summery Munich in the 1980s. Already on the red carpet, the makers of the film “Girl You Know It’s True” conjure up the longing for glamour, dance lightness and the songs that no one who heard them back then will ever forget. Producer Quirin Berg and director Simon Verhoeven warm up to the crowd of reporters, talking about the complex casting, the difficult music rights issue and the two heroes of the evening. The heroes who were also impostors. Two dazzling show stars whose careers shattered in a moment of truth.

Milli Vanilli – the name of this pop duo alone sounds wonderfully weird, like sweet intoxication, disco gaga and the hedonism of a more carefree time. The film, which is now showing on the wide Mathäser screen, tells the story of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus with wit, warmth and contemporary historical accuracy, without ridiculing the characters: two young, enviably good-looking dancers (played by Tijan Njie and by Elan Ben Ali) take their first career steps in Munich, then are discovered by music producer Frank Farian (Matthias Schweighöfer), who was previously also Boney M. to dizzying heights. They are given a shiny image, a wild, long mane and a few pre-produced studio songs that soon become worldwide hits.

Unfortunately, these two can’t sing, even when Milli Vanilli is already booked for tours in the USA and nominated for a Grammy. As a viewer, you ask yourself the same question as the heroes back then: When will the fake be exposed, when will the playback scam from which everyone earns a lot of money burst? And what price do you personally pay if you just celebrated the greatest champagne parties in Los Angeles and now have to live in the last hole?

Even during the screening you can feel how the audience is going along, there is occasional applause and a standing ovation at the end credits, something that is also rare at Munich premieres. This evening is “very moving,” says Simon Verhoeven, which is also due to the fact that there are some people present who have experienced the Milli Vanilli madness themselves – as musicians and managers involved, as relatives or just as fans from the very beginning . Starting with the film boss and Leonine founder Fred Kogel, who at the time organized disco parties with the radio station Xanadu in the legendary Schwabinger Bräu – where the two young dancers Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus also caused a stir before their lightning career. “So no one had to explain to me who Milli Vanilli was,” says Kogel of the very first film meeting in his office, when Quirin Berg and Simon Verhoeven wanted to pitch the project to him – it wasn’t even necessary. After all, he still had all the songs in his ears, “Blame it on the Rain”, “Baby, Don’t Forget my Number”, “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You”: wonderfully dazzling songs, even if Milli Vanilli only had them Lips moved.

Open detailed view

The stage is filling up more and more on Monday evening, the two main actors Tijan Njie and Elan Ben Ali are celebrating, as is Matthias Schweighöfer, who shows comedic class as film producer Farian. But then there is one last premiere moment that says more than all the acceptance speeches and praise. Because the story of Milli Vanilli has a sad core: Robert Pilatus, the vital stage star, was never able to overcome his alcohol addiction, nor his deep fall and the malice of the critics – the son of an American soldier and a German mother, adopted by a Munich couple Nightclub dancer died in 1988. Probably also of a broken heart.

“For a long time we were the scapegoats, but we were just exploited.”

His sister Carmen Pilatus doesn’t have to tell anything anymore, this film is also her story, it’s about farewell and pain, but also about ecstasy and high spirits. Finally, the man who survived all of this sprints onto the stage: the Frenchman Fabrice Morvan, whose ageless appearance is just as impressive as his deep voice. Morvan wears his Afro braids under a red and white scarf, he can hardly be held back and immediately grabs the microphone: This film, he shouts into the hall, tells the right story. “For a long time we were the scapegoats, but we were just exploited.” Morvan says to the applause that he only has one wish: to finally be able to trust his own voice! And then he does exactly that, singing the opening line of “Girl You Know It’s True” in a gravelly voice. It’s almost shocking, the authenticity of it. “Rob, that was for you, brother” – and the brother in show heaven was certainly watching.