The Tinder Swindler

An entertaining documentary, yet an eye-rolling experience to watch these gullible women chasing all that glitters. Conscious decisions were made in chasing "a rich, successful man" which ended with buyer's remorse.

A man of that wealth, stature, and access would never have the need to be on a dating app.

This documentary should be watched by both men and women as a reminder of the age old saying, "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is."

A crazy storyline that even the synopsis makes you wonder why these women would think that a billionaire was out to find love on Tinder. An exiting story that takes you from one end of the world to the other, but there must have been so many red flags for each of them but they've been blindsided by the lavish lifestyle and money.

I think the most fascinating part of this story is that of Cecilie Fjellhøy. 1,500 Tinder men scrolled through, lots of dates, and the one man she happens to fall in love with within 5 seconds happens to be a billionaire. I mean, what are the odds of that happening!

As "The Tinder Swindler" (2022 release from the UK; 114 min.) opens, we are introduced to Cecilie, a 29 yr. Norwegian living in London who has been on the Tinder dating app for 7 years. She LOVES Tinder. One day, she right-swipes on the profile of a certain Simon LeViev, a guy from Israel who embodies the "life style of the rich and famous", and before you know it, literally within days, Cecilie and Simon are tight, super tight. At this point we are 10 min into the movie.

Couple of comments: this is the directing debut of UK documentary producer Felicia Morris. Here she brings us the story of, as the movie's title implies, how a slick guy uses the Tinder dating app to prey on women for money. He is not the first guy to do this, and surely also not the last guy. What makes this documentary so surprisingly entertaining is that the 3 victims who bring their story (Cecilie, Swedish woman Pernilla, and Dutch woman Ayleen) turn out to be master story tellers. Indeed, much of the movie is simply letting them talk, albeit backed up by (i) their iPhone communications which all were stored for posterity, and (ii) scene re-enactments. I typically am put off by scene re-enactments but for whatever reason I wasn't here. Add a layer of slick and pure eye-candy photography (Oslo!, London!, Stockholm! Amsterdam!, Prague!, Mykonos! It's like a James Bond movie), and the end result is quite tasty. Kudos to the three ladies for stepping forward and sharing their story. I cannot even begin to imagine what it must have been like to live through this. As for the Tinder swindler himself, may he get what he deserves.

"The Tinder Swindler" premiered on Netflix this past week. If you are a fan of true crime documentaries, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

Be careful who you fall for, the story of young women who have fallen in love with the son of a wealthy diamond trader, Simon Laviev, however all is not as it seems.

Originally I thought this was going to be a movie, the content and format came as a real surprise, I didn't get into it straight away, it all seemed a little wishy washy, however as it develops, and you learn the actual content, it becomes a great, shocking watch.

You may we'll be like me, and screaming at the screen, how on Earth could these women have fallen for his story, it is just baffling. You have to chuckle about the comments about Tinder being a place to find love, but this isn't the place for that conversation.

Very well made, it looks great, beautifully filmed, with such powerful interviews and insight.

9/10.