Aylin Tezel takes on the combined role of director, actor, and writer in her feature debut Falling into Place, which is in competition at this year’s Raindance Film Festival in London.
Germany’s appearance as Guest of Honour at the 32nd Raindance Film Festival continues with a film written by, directed by, and starring Aylin Tezel. Given that she has so much to do, Tezel has done a solid job with her debut feature Falling into Place.
Tezel plays Kira, a 30-something London-based set designer who goes alone for a break on the Isle of Skye, having broken up with her boyfriend. Her eyes meet those of Ian (Chris Fulton) across a bar, and they spend the night and the next day together in an extended meet-cute. As they wander the hills and sit by the water, we learn that Kira is not yet ready for another relationship and that Ian has some issues with his family, although no details are forthcoming. The two then return to their own lives and, spurred on by the encounter, gradually begin to make changes which may make them happier.
Despite the demands on her multiple roles in creating Falling into Place, Aylin Tezel’s acting is never in question – she has a lot of experience and may be known to German TV viewers as a former member of the Dortmund team in the long-running series Tatort.
She also seems to have a good handle on the directorial skills required, keeping the intertwining and then separate stories of the two main protagonists moving along nicely. The London-based scenes convey the busyness of the streets and hectic day-to-day existence of its inhabitants perfectly, and it’s difficult to go wrong in Scotland with the beautiful natural scenery just there for the taking.
The weakness is in the way the characters are written; the men in Kira’s life are either not likeable, or almost one-dimensional, and it does make one wonder why she is wasting her energy and emotions on any of them.
But then, this is not supposed to be a light and airy rom-com. It has a little more grit to it, acknowledging that relationships (including with ourselves) are messy, families are complicated, and running away from one difficult situation only to find yourself in another is not a way to heal anything. Having addressed all of that quite competently, it’s then annoying to have a final scene in which all of this is needlessly undone. Perhaps the ending might have been a little less disappointing if the male characters had been more fully rounded.
Nevertheless, Falling into Place indicates that Aylin Tezel shows talent, and it will be interesting to see which of her many roles she eventually favours.