Wand an Wand

I stumbled upon the original French Version some years ago and despite its silly premise I found the chemistry and film a delightful watch. Cut to 2024 seeing a new version on Netflix I was interested...

This film remake is missing the magic of the first one which is odd because it's mostly the same. It's just is very lacking.

This version offered nothing new which what's the point of making the exact same movie again with in my opinion actors who just didn't have the same chemistry.

Really if this film looks interesting to you just find the French version it's so much better. I would have people to see this version first and miss out.

Communication these days and dating for the youngsters can start on screens so a wall is not so weird

The story here is really very sweet a kind of feel-good Romcom with the usual oh no we are making a mistake leading to denouement.

The 2 main actors are excellent. Not being Spanish or watching Spanish TV was not aware that the leading lady is a They've Got Talent type singer; she is good here also quite a beauty which will please all male viewers no doubt

The main male player is also very good as are all the ancillaries

The film is based on a 2015 French story and film Mit dem Herz durch die Wand (2015) I will have a look at that one see what the differences are; but the Spanish one here stands on its own perfectly; and if you do not know it is a copy and paste it feels really original

Within the EU now you see many films being reworked to GER ITA SPA Fr etc wherever the original happened; it usually works fairly well. It does here.

In this film Aitana plays a girl called Valentina who thinks she's found a nice apartment to move into, but she soon finds out that she can hear everything her neighbor (David - Gullar Fernando) does in his apartment because the walls are very thin.

The film starts off funny because David wants complete silence for his scientific work but Valentina can't provide this because she is trying to be a professional pianist, so they start trying to make each other move out by creating as much noiseas possible. But this joke ends a bit stupidly when Valentina "ups her game" by just doing something small that's not really funny and probably wouldn't have bothered most people.

This joke lasts about 25 minutes and then are still some other jokes and they made me chuckle but not laugh out loud.

Another part that I found quite funny is when Valentina and David start to get to know each other but they decide that they shouldn't meet and should just get to know each other through the thin walls. So they both try to cook lasagna and David's turns out perfectly but Valentina's keeps getting worse and worse.

But overall this film has too much romance and not enough comedy so I probably won't watch it again. And even some of the romantic parts look silly, for example towards the end of the film, David and Valentina have a fight and David does something romantic to win her back but it just came across as more stupid than romantic. Although it might still be a fun movie to watch on a date night.

She's a young pianist preparing for an audition. He is a game inventor who can only concentrate in complete silence. Separated by only a paper-thin wall in conjoined apartments, will they learn to live in harmony with one another? Will romance blossom through the wall?

At a time when humor was not common in western films, this one won me over. Even its soundtrack is delightfully funny, with a modern and contemporary aura... And the eternal magic of transforming criminals, murderers and thieves into national heroes, with a lot of sympathy and ''honesty''. The two handsome protagonists and the beautiful Kath Ross (enigmatic ending) have perfect chemistry, a lean script that doesn't let it get boring, everything is well produced, it has aged elegantly...

'Love, Divided' tells the tale of Valentina, a young classical pianist gearing up for a high-profile audition. As she settles into her new apartment in the heart of Madrid, she quickly encounters her neighbor, David--a reclusive, grumpy, and socially awkward inventor who detests loud noises. David occupies the apartment immediately next to hers and hasn't left the building in over three years. Complicating matters further is the paper-thin wall separating their apartments; although they can't see each other, they can speak as if in the same room.

For obvious reasons, conflict and comedic situations ensue as our two leads initially can't stand each other due to their starkly different lifestyles. What's curious is that each neighbor is currently struggling with their own outside personal issues that eventually enter their living situation. Soon enough, Valentina and David begin to fall for each other, simply by candidly conversing through the wall and finding they have much in common--all without ever knowing what the other looks like.

If you're reading this thinking, 'This sounds like a completely stupid premise for a film,' I agree--yet somehow, it works. Although it follows the common rom-com trope of two people who initially can't stand each other, it avoids the typical plot contrivances and unrelatable characters that plague many modern films of the genre, which seem to be written exclusively to socially engineer unattainable expectations for real-life relationships. The two leads of this film are relatable and have undeniable chemistry together, with Valentina, played by Pop-Singer Aitana in her acting debut, being exceptionally charming and endearing.

Euro-films generally have more artistic photography than Hollywood films, and this film is no exception, as director Patricia Font makes good use of moving camera shots to convey the idea of a relationship that exists with a wall separating the characters.

My main criticism is that the characters' early decision to avoid meeting face-to-face feels slightly underdeveloped, even when addressed through dialogue. At times, I found myself thinking, 'It's just a movie; I'll go with it.' Additionally, I felt some of the characters' decisions made in the final moments of the film strained credulity, however, I can give it a pass because I understand the symbolism Font was going for.

Overall, this slightly saccharine rom-com is more light-hearted than outright comedic, yet it manages to be relatable and surprisingly entertaining. As someone who usually works from home and is a former musician, I found both characters relatable and well-performed by the actors. I usually don't like rom-coms; however, the plot of this particular film had such a sweet, simplistic innocence to it that I enjoyed it quite a bit. 7/10

(I watched this in the original Spanish-Audio and can't speak to the quality of the English-dub.)