The Fall

Cert: 15, 110 min
Release: 2006 / 2008
Country: UK / US / India

Monday 3rd November 8:20p.m. Reel Cinema, Andover 

“Singh has money to burn and he builds a pretty bonfire.” Xan Brooks

”A must-watch for lovers of the strange and unusual.”
Saxon Bullock

In a hospital, an injured stuntman and a young girl strike up a friendship. The stuntman is persuaded to tell her a story. It’s an epic, populated in part by other people in the hospital. Gradually, the border between the fictional and the real begins to blur.
  
Creator Tarsem Singh, financed the film from his own resources and struggled to get it wholesale distribution, possibly due to the difficulties of categorisation. Singh is best known as a director of commercials, and skills learned in his day job are evident here. It’s a sumptuous and extravagant film, full of visual trickery and shot in dozens of countries. There’s little CGI, thank goodness, and much to wonder at. Some critics have mused that it might be a triumph of style over substance. Don’t let that put you off – this is a film to be watched, rather than analysed. It’s extraordinary.

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 Creator Tarsem Singh is best known as a director of commercials and music videos. And it shows. This is one of the best-looking films I have ever seen. It was said of Eisenstein that every frame of his films was a high quality photograph in its own right, and I would say the same of The Fall. The colours are extraordinary, as is the framing. (Tarsem says that there’s no CGI, just good old-fashioned editing and so on. If he’s telling the truth, someone should give him an award!)

The story is based on the friendship between a five year old girl and an injured stuntman, both hospitalised. The stuntman tells the girl an epic story of love and revenge. Seen through the girl’s imagination, the story is populated by other people in the hospital. Gradually, the border between the fictional and the real begins to blur.

There are no star turns and the acting is unassuming. Some of the characters are as single-dimensional as they should be. It’s how the five year old sees them. The story within a story profits from its lack of depth, especially as it’s essentially a tale for children. Characters back in the real world are a bit more rounded, as they should be. Catinca Untaru, as the young girl, is appealing and believable.

With locations from 28 countries, this is an extravagant film. Some critics have mused that it represents a triumph of style over substance. It doesn’t matter – this is a film to be watched, rather than analysed. If it had been made as a sumptuous cartoon they wouldn’t have grumped. It could have been made as a Disney film, but I’m glad it wasn’t. I’d be more than happy to see it again soon.

Hans van Well

[Reviewer’s opinions are not necessarily those of the Film Club]