"Art of Love" (original Turkish title: "Romantik Hirsiz") centers on the complicated relationship and chase between an art thief and an Interpol police officer working in an art department. Both the director and the screenwriter are known for their production of subpar romcom films, so that's the first red flag. But let's give this one a chance and see what happens, shall we? Besides, I am watching this mainly to see Esra Bilgiç, who had me in a total chokehold when she played Sibel Yildirim in Ramo a few years back.
So here, we have Alin, a beautiful police officer working in Interpol's Art Crimes Unit (which doesn't exist irl by the way...they have what's called a Cultural Heritage Unit which handles art theft/crimes). She goes after a thief who stole different paintings from high-security, famous museums. However, unlike traditional art thieves, this thief steals little-known paintings by little-known painters. Alin, who deepens the investigation to find the thief, comes face to face with an extraordinary truth while he is on the job: the thief is her former lover, Güney (played by Birkan Sokullu).
That reveal starts jump starts a shoddily remade template of Hollywood romantic thievery films, along with every cliché you can think of frequently used in the "love and theft" genre. The logical errors in the writing are too extreme to avoid. For example, it turns out our extraordinary art thief is actually an ultra-rich businessman who does not need money at all, but we never see this businessman working for his company. Things go his way, the money is already abundant, and the important thing is to continue stealing for the satisfaction of excitement. Another badly overdone cliché: our police lady is loyal to her job, but she decides she has to "get close" to the criminal - hr former lover - she is after because of her undercover duty. When unsealed accounts from the past become evident, business and "love" become mixed up...except, um, the writing is so bad that I have no reason to care about these monotone, one dimensional characters or their supposed previous "relationship." It doesn't help that Esra Bilgiç and Birkan Sokullu, who are both eye candy, have zero romantic chemistry and are the un-hottest, most snoozeworthy "couple" I've watched in a long time. Yawn.
As you can imagine, having no depth to work with in terms of the script makes it impossible for either of the leads to deliver a good performance. That's not their fault, but the bad result is the same. The dialogues and the scenes related to them are just plain superficial and cringe. There's no soul or emotion whatsoever. Predictability rules from the start and as a result there's no suspense, no thrill or suspense to be found anywhere.
I will say the aesthetics in many of the scenes are beautiful. Prague and the historical buildings and museums as a backdrop and presents a visually impressive production design. But the ridiculous vapidity of the story overshadows all this visuality.
Perhaps most disappointing was Bilgiç's weak performance and the unnecessary oversexualization of Alin. It was gross and uncalled for, and coupled with the horrible writing and shoddy plot progression, as a viewer you're made to feel you're watching a series of sexy/trashy clothing and jewelry ads for Bilgiç as a model, not an actual film that's supposed to be telling a gripping story.
So here, we have Alin, a beautiful police officer working in Interpol's Art Crimes Unit (which doesn't exist irl by the way...they have what's called a Cultural Heritage Unit which handles art theft/crimes). She goes after a thief who stole different paintings from high-security, famous museums. However, unlike traditional art thieves, this thief steals little-known paintings by little-known painters. Alin, who deepens the investigation to find the thief, comes face to face with an extraordinary truth while he is on the job: the thief is her former lover, Güney (played by Birkan Sokullu).
That reveal starts jump starts a shoddily remade template of Hollywood romantic thievery films, along with every cliché you can think of frequently used in the "love and theft" genre. The logical errors in the writing are too extreme to avoid. For example, it turns out our extraordinary art thief is actually an ultra-rich businessman who does not need money at all, but we never see this businessman working for his company. Things go his way, the money is already abundant, and the important thing is to continue stealing for the satisfaction of excitement. Another badly overdone cliché: our police lady is loyal to her job, but she decides she has to "get close" to the criminal - hr former lover - she is after because of her undercover duty. When unsealed accounts from the past become evident, business and "love" become mixed up...except, um, the writing is so bad that I have no reason to care about these monotone, one dimensional characters or their supposed previous "relationship." It doesn't help that Esra Bilgiç and Birkan Sokullu, who are both eye candy, have zero romantic chemistry and are the un-hottest, most snoozeworthy "couple" I've watched in a long time. Yawn.
As you can imagine, having no depth to work with in terms of the script makes it impossible for either of the leads to deliver a good performance. That's not their fault, but the bad result is the same. The dialogues and the scenes related to them are just plain superficial and cringe. There's no soul or emotion whatsoever. Predictability rules from the start and as a result there's no suspense, no thrill or suspense to be found anywhere.
I will say the aesthetics in many of the scenes are beautiful. Prague and the historical buildings and museums as a backdrop and presents a visually impressive production design. But the ridiculous vapidity of the story overshadows all this visuality.
Perhaps most disappointing was Bilgiç's weak performance and the unnecessary oversexualization of Alin. It was gross and uncalled for, and coupled with the horrible writing and shoddy plot progression, as a viewer you're made to feel you're watching a series of sexy/trashy clothing and jewelry ads for Bilgiç as a model, not an actual film that's supposed to be telling a gripping story.