Directed by Tarsem Singh
Written by Dan Gilroy, Nico Soultanakis, Tarsem Singh, and Valeri Petrov (1981 screenplay)
With Catinca Untaru, Justine Waddell, Lee Pace, Kim Uylenbroek, Aiden Lithgow, Sean Gilder, Ronald France, Andrew Roussouw, Michael Huff, Grant Swanby, Emil Hostina, Robin Smith, Jeetu Verma, Leo Bill, Marcus Wesley…
Released in 2008
When I received the last issue of the Friends of the Maryland Film Festival newsletter about a screening of The Fall, my interest and excitement was at first a bit damped after I read that is was made by the same director Tarsem Singh who created The Cell. Although The Cell was visually interesting, I still remember how disappointed I left the theater after watching it back in 2000. I expected so much more than this film was able to deliver.
However, I always give trailers a chance to spark my interest before I decide to dismiss a movie. When I watched the trailer to The Fall I was intrigued and decided to find out a bit more about it.
The first thing I noticed in the trailer was that it was presented by David Fincher and Spike Jonze. “The Trailer? Or the Film?” I wondered. And why were neither of them mentioned in the details of Internet Movie Database entry?
David Fincher has been one of my favorite directors with such remarkable and psychologically dense films like Se7en, The Game or Fight Club. Spike Jonze created some great films with Being John Malkovich or Adaptation as well. So I was even more curious about what The Fall was about.
Later I read on a David Fincher blog that Tarsem Singh financed this film fully out of his own pocket and shot over a period of four years in 24 countries around the world. The Fall never found a release until David Fincher and Spike Jonze decided to arrange at least a limited US-release beginning in March 2008.
David Fincher described the film as “what would’ve happened if Andrei Tarkovsky had made ‘The Wizard of Oz’”. This quote in addition to the incredibly mesmerizing trailer helped to free me of any doubts I might have had in the beginning based on my experience with The Cell before. I knew I would have to see this film as soon as it was out. I knew I had to find out what Tarsem Singh would create without any marketability constrains — and I’m absolutely thankful for this opportunity to watch this film at the Charles today.
The Fall takes place in a hospital in Los Angeles of the 1920s. Alexandria, a young girl with a broken arm (played by Catinca Untaru) befriends a bedridden stuntman Roy Walker (Lee Pace) who tells her the vivid, imaginative tale of an Indian, an ex-slave, an explosive expert, a masked bandit and famed evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin who joined together to fight their common evil enemy, Governor Odious. Being paralized and having lost faith in life Walker plans to commit suicide. He begins to tell Alexandria this marvelous story in pieces to make her provide him with Morphine and other pills.
This story is actually based on a Bulgarian film from 1981 titled Yo Ho Ho, written by Valeri Petrov and directed by Zako Heskija. It also reminded me of an important Swedish movie in my childhood: Bröderna Lejonhjärta (The Brothers Lionheart). Astrid Lindgren’s story was about two brothers one of whom suffered from tuberculosis and knew that he was dying. The older told his younger brother a fantastic fairy tale to comfort him and give him hope that one day they will meet again in the fantastic world of Nangijala. This film treated the sad reality of death with great sensibility. The reality of death is also inherent in The Fall: Roy Walker’s death wish and suicide attempt, the death of the beloved monkey, the death of all the heroes… Another thing both The Fall and The Brothers Lionheart have in common is how the line between reality and imagination blurs. People that surround them in their everyday lives become characters in the fantastic world of the fairy tale… which of course makes me think of Wizard of Oz as well.
Visually, The Fall was absolutely stunning – the imagery and transitions were just beautiful and breathtaking. I think it can’t get any closer to perfection than what I have seen today. Every scene was composed with such an indescribable eye for detail and aesthetics. Interwoven into the imagery and superior story-telling there also was a nice tribute to the greatest films in cinematic history. From the earliest silent movies, the Whirling Dervishes and the Balinese Kecak dance in Ron Fricke’s Baraka to swimming elephants in Gregory Colbert’s Ashes & Snow. The magic of my childhood, the Persian tales of One Thousand and One Nights, the Czech and East European stop motion/animation and fairytale tradition, and even a brief hint of Pirate stories found a place here in The Fall. All those moments flow into a fascinating story that blends elegantly and brilliantly from reality into imagination, back and forth with the freedom to adjust and tweak as the story unfolds. Catinca Untaru’s performance was fantastic and stunningly natural. I am sure she will have a long and great career ahead of her. And what music would be more appropriate to a masterpiece like The Fall than the wonderful Symphony No. 7 Allegretto by Ludwig van Beethoven. I get teary-eyes just watching the trailer.
Absolutely phenomenal… this film is essential. I can only urge everybody to go and watch it as long as it’s still playing in the theaters. Nowadays you will not be able to find a lot of movies of such a superior quality. Not a lot of film-makers can afford to transform their vision without a focus on financial and marketability requirements which destroy cinema as an art form. I wish there were more filmmakers courageous enough to create films without having to make compromises, but I hope many will follow Tarsem Singh’s example.
I immediately fell in love with the magic of The Fall and have to watch it again soon. On IMDB I’m happy to rate it 10/10. I’m usually very selective about which films to own on DVD, but The Fall is definitely one I will have to purchase as soon as it becomes available. I’m still spellbound…:)
