Review: “What a Feeling” brings repro rights and immigration to freshen up a stale rom-com trope.
The romantic comedy featuring a dowdy housewife, or innocent single woman and a suave player/ bad boy is as old as the film itself. The…
The romantic comedy featuring a dowdy housewife, or innocent single woman and a suave player/ bad boy is as old as the film itself. The player shows the wife/single woman the world and then tries to dump her off the moment he begins to catch feelings. It’s the move he has done to countless other women, only this time he has already fallen in love and is therefore in a pickle over this woman. Think Down with Love, Grease, Cry Baby, etc.
That’s the trope used in the Austrian romantic comedy What a Feeling. However, the film is written and directed by a woman, Kat Rohr and although the “player” lead is a carpenter, that character is also a woman, Fa played by Proschat Madani. Fa stumbles upon Marie Theres (Caroline Peters) on the night that the latter’s marriage explodes.
Rohr doesn’t just change the lead of this well-known trope into a woman, she creates a film that delves into the topics close to the feminine existence. That means a dive into reproductive rights, the misogyny women face in seeking medical care, and the treatment of women carpenters in a male-dominated field. Fa is Iranian, which also means a look into the life of a lesbian Iranian woman living in Vienna. This adds racism and anti-immigration treatment to the list, and also the dangers of being lesbian in Iran.
What a Feeling rolls all of these things into one film in a way that works while preserving the comedy, romance, and drama of the film.
Marie does meet Fa on the night that was supposed to be her wedding anniversary. Instead, Marie’s husband Alex (Heikko Deutschmann) declares the end of their 20-year marriage in front of the couple’s close friends. Marie gets completely drunk after dinner after Alex leaves her the check for dinner. She stumbles into a bar where she meets Fa and dances like a lady swatting mosquitoes instead of dancing.
Marie wakes up the next morning, with a hangover and a vague memory. She may have slept with a woman, Fa.
Meanwhile, it’s the Fa who is committed to her player ways. She sleeps with clients both old and current. It becomes clear that her detached manner is due to some deep-seated hurt. That hurt is connected to being a middle-aged Iranian woman who is not married and has no kids. That’s bad enough. Being a lesbian in her home country is deadly.
Marie doesn’t know any of this as she navigates the first few weeks of singlehood after two decades of marriage. She also has a daughter, Anna (Allegra Tinnefield) who is struggling through the hormonal changes of puberty. While all of this is happening, Marie gets suspended from her job at the hospital due to the hypocrisy of her chauvinistic boss. Marie’s life seems to be imploding, and that only leads her into the arms of Fa. Fa falls in love for the first time with Marie.
The women awkwardly navigate a tawdry romance until their separate issues force them apart. Marie must come to terms with the idea of loving a woman, while Fa must come to terms with loving herself. It all comes to a head at a reproductive rights protest where Anna of all people may be the person to save this blossoming relationship.
Rohr’s film brings a fresh and vital perspective to a trope that’s as old as film itself. And she does it without sacrificing the story, the romance, and the comedy.
What a Feeling is filmed in German with English subtitles. It’s currently making the rounds of LGBTQ Film Festivals in North America. For more information on where to catch the film, follow @whatafeeling.katrohr on Instagram.