The Falling (2015)

Sadly Over-hyped

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Brilliant storyline which could have resulted in a powerful, positive movie, but this production falls flat, with lots of ups and downs, unhappily. The film is plagued by a few nasty, loud songs apparently by below-par folk "artistes"; these annoying puerile songs should have been deleted or replaced with something appropriate. and appealing Most reviews rate this flick very low. I noticed two that gave a 10/10 rating!! Hmmm. When I checked (am always very suspicious about 10/10 ratings for movies that average below 6/10), I found that both these "reviewers" have rated only ONE movie on IMDb, yes, this film. These are their headings: "Let's not confuse uncomfortable with bad." by SusanGinny and "Loved it!" by jax-37159. Hmmm!About 35 minutes in, the film pretty much dies for a while, as things come virtually to a dead stop, as though the entire cast and crew had decided to take a break! There's a scene in which two characters do not speak for about a minute, just sit holding hands (the boy fondling the girl)! What sort of direction is THAT? Significance? A few minutes later, there's another irritating song by a silly, drippy singer: what am I missing? What was the meaning? Lost on me. A couple of minutes later the song or another pops up briefly, for no reason. What's going on? 48 minutes in another song with loud solo guitar cuts in "The moon is like a boat, my love, with lemon peel afloat, my love..." HUH? This ditty is sung by the character Abbie, but what the heck does it mean? Incidentally, the superbly beautiful Florence Pugh, born January 1996, plays Abbie; I predict a very bright future for this actress. Anyway, WHO decided on all the music? Good grief! Just a minute later yet ANOTHER irritating loud loud song assaults our ears "I've been waiting for a long time" sung by a lad in a high-pitched voice. This is too damn much. Horrible. By now I just feel like turning off the DVD player and reading a book. As the film continues, there's more hideous, inappropriate, raucous music! Really testing my patience ~ the "music" in this film is a huge put-off. I'll set aside consideration of the strange event happening in this film, at a girls' school, as others have dealt with that and you can read it online... no, it's nothing to do with the music! I will say that the occurrence of the event is repeated and repeated and repeated and repeated.... BORING! We got the idea after the 6th time, thank you!!I'll rate this movie 3/10, cannot go higher, all considered. In other hands, I believe this story could be re-scripted, the oddball music deleted, and made into a film that would rate at least 6/10. #

If you can avoid the trailer, I think it will be more enjoyable if you go in cold. If you've seen the trailer it is misleading. It's not about an epidemic at an all-girl school with a conspiracy to cover up. At it's core I think The Falling is about two things a generational gap between the females in this movie and their inability to communicate. The older women are from a generation where they endure their hardships (in this movie very tragic ones), don't speak of it and try to move on with life the best they can. The new generation are in a more liberated time. The world went through a lot of social change in the 60's and 70's. So they are more open about their problems and share sometimes too much which is embodied by Abbie. But the girls in this movie are girls. They are very intelligent, they think they know it all but are still confused about things. Even though the younger generation are living in a more liberating time there are still dealing with repression but they have to navigate this new world alone. When they try to reach out to the adults they are unable/unwillingly to help. Not out of maliciousness I think but just don't know how. The women in this movie are not the dumb adults that are always in movies. They see what is going on with these kids but are failing them. When they do intervene it comes to late. One quote that embodies this is by the headmistress. She tells a teacher how the students feel so misunderstood but have no clue about how it's like to be a middle age women.As for the mystery of the movie. Why are these girls fainting. The movie gives two answers with proof for both. In my opinion it's a mixture of both. For critiques of the movie. At times the fainting of the girls seemed way to choreographed and not natural. Some of music is ill placed. Some shots are confusing, they are meant to show us things but lack context or go too fast. I found the movie enjoyable but I wanted more out of it.

THE FALLING is another film that I heard about courtesy of Mark Kermode, who quite liked it if I recall. Too bad I can't say the same myself. I'm all for ambiguous stories as long as the filmmakers provide some key as to what they're trying to say. This felt like they didn't try at all in that regard, so I was left confused as to why things were happening most of the time. The basic plot is that a girl, Abby (Florence Pugh) meets a tragic end at a British boarding school for girls, and then other girls at the school start having these fainting spells. From what I gather, the filmmakers may have been trying to comment on the sexually repressive atmosphere of 1960's England, as seen through the eyes of girls just entering puberty at that time. However, nothing is really explained and I can't quite forgive the film for that, as I feel my time was slightly wasted. There was also a really weird incestuous relationship between a girl and her brother, which was rather off-putting. Still, despite the weakness of the writing, the performances were really good and the film looked gorgeous. I was particularly impressed with Maisie Williams (who some will know from GAME OF THRONES), who brought depth and a youthful angst to her character. Overall, I can't see the average moviegoer getting much out of this one. Even for me, who normally jumps at the opportunity to watch a film that makes me think, I felt a little cheated. I wouldn't go so far to say this is a bad film, per se, but quite possibly the only falling that happens will be when you fall asleep.

THE FALLING is a film detailing an outbreak of fainting at an all-girl school in 1969. Such events are well-documented in real life and often have the authorities and various specialists puzzled, although it's widely acknowledged that they're psychosomatic in nature. So there's potential here for an interesting storyline.Unfortunately, the storyline of THE FALLING is all over the place. For the first half hour it's a typical tale of teenage angst and friendship. Things take a darker turn with the introduction of incestuous sub-plots and the like, but then they become ridiculous with the well-choreographed fainting spells. Subliminal imagery abounds, alongside some hinted-at supernatural aspects, but it all adds up to far less than the sum of its components. What's the message here, anyway? What's it all about? I previously saw director Carol Morley's docu-drama DREAMS OF A LIFE and that was a similar film in that it had an interesting premise but sub-standard execution. Plus, Morley doesn't seem to be very assured at getting good performances out of her actors, and the acting is of a distinctly wishy-washy standard here. I love Maisie Williams in GAME OF THRONES, but she seems unsure of herself here and sometimes just feels like Arya in a school uniform.