The Falling

It takes a certain kind of film to release on the same day as something like Avengers: Age of Ultron.  You either have to be a little bit insane or be peddling something so completely different, that you believe your audience will find it.  The Falling definitely falls into the second category, as Carol Morley‘s film looks at a fainting epidemic in a 1960’s girls school in England.

The England it is set in is the idyllic world that many have dreamed about, but few have discovered.  It’s an England of tall trees, glistening lakes and is so full of beauty that it takes your breath away.  This beauty is so complete, that it gives the film an almost dream like feel.  Which in turn gives the the impression that you are watching a ghost story, without the ghosts.

It is a feeling that is accentuated by the soundtrack, created by Tracey Thorn and portrayed in the film as being by the schools alternative orchestra.  It’s an acoustic and airy score, which adds to this unsettling atmosphere and causes you to drift along with it, both enticed by it and repelled.

This dreamy feel comes together in the character of Abigail, (Florence Pugh) whose early death is what seems to inspire the fainting fits that overwhelm the school.  When she begins to discover her sexuality, her best friend Lydia (Maisie Williams) (who appears to be infatuated with her) begins to worry that their friendship will suffer.  Something which only adds to her grief, when Abigail is taken away from her.

This all leads to the fainting that forms the bulk of this film.  When Lydia begins to faint, often in dramatic circumstances, her school mates and one teacher suddenly start to do the same and it isn’t long before much of the school comes together in a fainting fit during assembly.  The scene, which brings to mind Ken Russell‘s The Devils, sees the girls twisting and twitching in a way which is closer to a dance than anything else.  Much like the film, it is a scene that is both beautiful and terrifying and it leaves you questioning just what is going on at this school.

It’s a question the staff obviously share and in the case of Miss Mantel and Miss Alvaro, they are almost certain that no physical illness is present and that their problems all revolve around Lydia’s influence on her fellow pupils.  Greta Scacchi and Monica Dolan respectively, are brilliant in these roles.  They play the prickly old ladies, determined to not let these young girls dictate the way they run their schools and as Dolan aggressively smokes her way through every scene, you can almost believe she has spent her entire life as a school mistress.

Elsewhere, Williams steps away from the Game of Thrones world and shows she is more than capable of doing so.  The head strong Lydia is a force of nature, one who is determined to make people pay attention to her and due to a fractious relationship with her agoraphobic mother, does a great job of portraying both independence and loneliness.

It’s not a perfect film however and in the last act it does fall apart a bit.  A strange incestuous relationship doesn’t quite sit right and when it is brought to the screen in stark detail, it just makes you feel uncomfortable.  The ending is also slightly unsatisfying, as it attempts to tie up all the loose ends.  Things that maybe could have been left in the dark are explained and you can’t help but feel the answer is often not as interesting or impactful as what you created in your own head.

Despite these flaws, The Falling is still an enticing film.  Director Carol Morley creates a world that lingers in the head long after the film is over and that alone is worthy of celebration.  She is a talent that you will need to keep your eye on in the years to come, as The Falling hints towards something we need a lot more of.