We have not watched a lot of Colombian movies and series, but the few that we have felt a little underwhelming. Don’t get us wrong, there is sufficient excitement by virtue of the many things happening on screen, but they somehow seem to miss out on a crucial aspect of entertaining through a story: the character development. Till the very end in Fake Profile, we did not know what Camila’s intentions were. We speculated that her actions were driven by anger and indignation, but the point is that those guesses were the result of the lack of any other explanation. It might have all made sense later on, but our point remains that we shouldn’t have been allowed to think of Camila as a one-dimensional, crazy ex-girlfriend for so long in Fake Profile. Then there was Miguel, who was the worst of the lot. He was a character written to be hated. He cheated on his wife twice and then tried to guilt her into keeping the relationship for the sake of their children. He never let go of Camila and wanted to keep her as a side piece. In addition to it all, he had absolutely no professional standing of his own. It would have been better that he never tried to give an explanation as to why he became Fernando and just accepted that he was a loser.
Also, what was the character arc of Inti in Fake Profile? That man had literally no purpose in the series other than getting involved with everyone. He was the catalyst for troubles in those relationships that shouldn’t have needed a third party to show them the issues they had. Honestly, the way he was written hints at a bit of homophobia and the prevalent stereotype the community faces about the way they approach sexual relationships. Our conclusion is especially based on the fact that while the triangle of Inti, Adrian, and his boyfriend were all involved with each other in a capacity of cheating, when Angela slept with him, it was her retaliation to her unfaithful husband, and after she had ended things with him. The first case is a messy relationship, whereas the second one can be justified in a heteronormative setting. The point was that it was not exciting after a while, and we don’t understand how it added to the story at all when something better could have been done.
For example, we saw that Camila’s presence upended Miguel’s life completely. We would have liked to see her take more of an active interest in doing that instead of just investigating in the background. Why wasn’t there an arc of her purposefully creating trouble? Why did it all have to be a matter of chance? Additionally, if Pedro wanted to use something against her, why did it have to be her ex-boyfriend? That is one of the worst twists ever. It could have been that Camila created an elaborate system of lies to be a part of that community, and Pedro used that to harm her. It would have still been a cliche, but a better one at that.
Finally, there was Lucas, the absolutely deranged teenager. It was sickening how his mother always stood up for him. Yes, Miguel’s affair had negatively affected him, but Angela shouldn’t have excused away his stalking and non-consensual recording of Camila, which can only be described as sexual assault. We were also very uncomfortable with how Camila was sexualized on screen. We can consider that she was using her sexuality as a weapon to ruffle feathers, but we couldn’t help feeling that it was taken a step too far way too many times.
Also, for all of her determination and investigation, Camila might have been a little dull. She had just been catfished by someone she was in a relationship with for four months and thought was possibly the love of her life. Yet she immediately makes the leap of trusting a man she has barely known for a few days to be her fake husband. Why couldn’t she just choose to play the part of the single woman moving next door instead of being the wife of someone?
The problem was that all the characters in Fake Profile remained the same for the majority of the series. Their development should have been better paced rather than concentrated in one place, which made it a little disorienting. We also found it absurd that all of the adult children of Pedro were so financially dependent on their father. Adrian and his fiancé would be nowhere without Pedro’s money, and the latter had some audacity in suggesting that they take a vacation funded by Pedro. Then there was Angela, and despite being her father’s favorite, why did we never see her work? It was just very embarrassing for them.
Regardless, it would be unfair to say that Fake Profile wasn’t interesting. Credit where credit is due, they did justice to the name of the series. It started with Miguel’s fake profile, later prompting Camila’s fake life, and finally ending with the true faces of so many characters being exposed. At the end of the day, it is about the identities we create for ourselves to get what we want. Miguel played the part of a perfect father and husband, and when the time came, he was ready to be the perfect business partner to his father-in-law. But the catch was that he was never actually perfect, which is why Pedro didn’t like him for the act he put on. Miguel also needed an outlet, a balm for his ego that was constantly bruised for not being who he needed to be to get the respect he wanted. That is why he became a different person to be with Camila, and he pretended to be so in love with Ximena.
The fact remains that though Fake Profile is moderately interesting, there really isn’t much to it. The characters look beautiful as always, and full points for sustainability by showing Camila repeating her dresses in the series, the yellow one in particular. Secondly, despite our gripe that this is not as thrilling as it could be, Fake Profile is alright. You wouldn’t be wasting your time if you decided to watch it. You might want to do that at one and a half times the speed, but it is still good enough for a lazy Sunday.
