Review: “The Tinder Swindler”
Camille Lenning | Entertainment Editor
Pretty much everyone can agree that Tinder is a cesspool of catfishers and hookup culture, but many are on it looking for love anyway — however, the new Netflix documentary, “The Tinder Swindler,” might make viewers think twice about being on the app.
Directed by Felicity Morris, the producer of Emmy winning documentary “Don’t F**k With Cats,” this examination of a notorious Tinder con artist tugs at the heartstrings of viewers while still accurately presenting the facts of the case.
The film is about Simon Leviev, real name Shimon Yehuda Hayut, who used Tinder to convince women he was a wealthy man looking for a long term partner, and gradually conned them out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
We are first introduced to Cecilie Fjellhøy, who was on Tinder just looking for Disney-level true love. We later meet Pernilla Sjoholm, who was never romantically involved with Leviev but traveled with him as a friend. The documentary features his long term girlfriend Ayleen Charlotte, who dated Leviev for 14 months before she found out he was scamming her. Between the three of them, Leviev conned them out of about $410,000.
Throughout the film, we see how Leviev masterfully manipulated these women into believing he was being pursued by his “enemies” who wanted him dead. He convinced them that the only way to keep him safe was to send him money, which he then spent to con other women in the same way.
The documentary does a fantastic job of conveying the emotions of these women and how bad their situation was, and continues to be. We hear voice memos of Leviev begging these women for money, and threatening them when they don’t send it. We also see text message exchanges between him and each woman, paired with their personal accounts of what he would say and do to convince them of his lies.
Overall, I think “The Tinder Swindler” is a very well made documentary. The editing and the story combine perfectly to give viewers an emotionally charged yet factually sound film that makes viewers want to punch a wall or start a petition, 7/10.
Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu
