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Film Review: The Fall

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By: DThompson | in: Movies |

The Fall

At first I thought I didn’t like The Fall very much. The trailer had led me to expect a real visual freak out, but on the surface The Fall seemed a fairly pedestrian effort. Though director Tarsem brought visual flash to certain sequences overall the movie was best described as “low key”. Yet, there’s more to this film than meets the eye or a casual viewing will reveal. The Fall is a movie of some depth, of multiple layers of symbolism that rewards further thought. On further consideration, I like The Fall very much indeed.

The film begins with a series of oblique, apparently disconnected, black and white images that at first make no sense. There is no sound further adding to the confusion. A man swimming, another man shouting, a prosthetic leg floating, a steam train. It slowly becomes clear that there’s been some sort of accident, but what? And, why black and white? And, why no sound?

With no explanation other than what you’ve managed to figure out for yourself The Fall  jumps to the faded color scheme of a hospital in the 1910’s or 20’s. Alexandria, a little girl in the hospital with a broken arm from a fall picking oranges, throws a note to a passing nurse promising “This time it’s in English.” But the note is caught by the wind and blows into the open window of another hospital room.

In this room, now trying to decipher the note is Ray, a silent film stuntman who, jilted by his girlfriend and laid up by an accident, contemplates suicide. He begins to tell the initially stand-offish Alexandria “an epic tale” of six bandits and their fight against Governor Odious. Here is where the cinematography burns with lush color and the film becomes highly stylized as we move in a psychedelic blur into Alexandria’s inner view of his story.

The Fall

Young children have a frustratingly oblique way of discussing things and describing events. The Fall captures this perfectly, completely unafraid to have what is essentially the main character be completely unintelligible from time to time. This is one of most accurate depictions of childhood speech ever committed to celluloid. The visuals compliment her speech; the film is essentially immersing you in a child’s viewpoint.

The title itself seems to have multiple meanings. Is it a reference to Ray’s fall on the movie set or Alexandria’s fall from the orange tree? More deeply, is it a reference to Ray’s moral failing as he uses his story to trick  Alexandria into stealing morphine to kill himself, or a reference to man’s fall from grace? Could it simply be talking about the season? No doubt the title refers to more than one, if not all of these things.

On the surface the viewer is presented with a story within a story about six bandits who have been treated poorly by Governor Odious.  In the first layer of symbolism the actors playing the bandits are also playing people involved with the film Ray was working on when he was injured. As well, the actor playing Governor Odious is revealed to be the venal producer of the film. So it’s possible to see the story Ray spins as a comment on the movie industry. Tarsem, however, is not content with such a simple allegory and the allusions don’t stop there.

The Fall

The Fall, though it concerns itself with motion pictures, is actually more about the power of stories to enchant and inspire. It’s about how stories engender love between the teller and the audience and how tales illuminate our own lives and sometimes save us. The line between the reality of Ray’s unhappiness and the world of the hospital versus the phantasmagoric tale of good versus evil becomes increasingly blurred. Alexandria’s anger at Ray’s girlfriend merges directly with the story into which she has inserted herself. Both adult and child confuse themselves and their real feelings with those of the characters’ in the story. It becomes clear a happy ending in real life hinges directly on a happy ending to the tale.

This movie is in love with stories, as Alexandria is in love with Ray because of the narrative he spins. After they leave the hospital she never sees him again except in the movies. The heightened sense of reality she brought to the story as a child is replaced by the heightened reality of film. For Alexandria, Ray will always be the bandit doing impossible deeds in a surreal wonderland. So it is that stories make wonder-eyed children of us all.

VERDICT: View life through a child’s eyes.


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Posted on June 22, 2008

Comments

3 Responses to “Film Review: The Fall”

  1. DThompson on June 23rd, 2008 6:54 am

    Dadesider on Propeller asked me if this was a love story, which I think is a very astute question.
    My response:
    It is, in it’s own peculiar way.
    It’s about a little girl falling in love with a young man who really doesn’t deserve it. And it’s about how her love, which is NOT unconditional, but hinges on a story he’s been telling her, (which is actually WHY he doesn’t deserve her love) ends up being a salvational event for him.
    Does that make any sense?


  2. Itax on June 26th, 2008 9:41 am

    Your review of this movie seems lukewarm. I feel like you didn’t really understand this movie. And if you really didn’t understand this movie what hope is there for the rest of us Hoi Polloi? I realize that I am better looking that you but I have a tremendous respect for your mental acuity. If the symbolism is there for the viewer to interpret for themselves individually, then how can the movie be “about” anything since everyone will have their own interpretation? Making a good movie while pulling this trick off is mighty hard. This movie sounds like a bit of a muddle to me, although I am sure that the look of the movie is cool.


  3. DThompson on June 28th, 2008 11:34 am

    You are better looking than me, I’ll give you that.
    However, just because you need to do a bit of thinking doesn’t make a movie muddled. Symbolism is up to the individual, as you say, but can be generally agreed upon. For example, Picasso’s “Guernica” is highly symbolic and there are widely varying interpretations, but it is agreed that it is about the dehumanizing effects of war. So it is that “The Fall” is generally about the transformative and healing powers of stories, though individual interpretations of specific elements within the film will vary widely.
    Perhaps I should have given the review another go…


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