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Pascale Bussieres, a Quebecois actress makes her English- speaking debut, as Camille, a teacher at a Christian college that has never let loose.

She is crying in a laundromat after losing her dog, when she meets Petra (Rachael Crawford), a circus performer. Showing up at the circus to deliver laundry that Petra left behind, Camille enters a world of fantasy that she has never experienced.

Canadian film maker Patricia Rozema (Kit Kittredge: An American Girl) gives us a strangely surreal world in which freedom and change battles repression and conformity.

The film was given an NC-17 rating, ostensibly for the lesbian sex scenes, and this affected the ratings given by some reviewers, but the heterosexual scene with Camille's fiancée was much more graphic. The lesbian scenes are tastefully done in a soft focus and very beautiful.

Everyone dreams of running off to join the circus at one time or another. In this case, it is a metaphor for being who you truly are. It takes courage, and we wonder whether or not Camille possesses that courage.

A gloriously beautiful film with a marvelous love story.

I have fallen in love with this movie. Since I patiently waited til the price went down and bought the movie I have watched it almost everyday. This movie runs consistent on all levels from beginning to end. The screen images embrace me and pulls me in. The acting (need I say I love Pascale/ Camille)...the lilt in her voice, her facial expressions, subtle yet so enticing. Petra! what a wonderful counterpart. Perfect music that moves the film along.

Camille's open-mindedness, and strong self-esteem exudes in this film. When her new sexuality is awakened - she doesn't suppress and feel guilty (which easily could have been due to her strong Christian background). She meets it with some trepidation and yet she is an individual with her own mind and heart...and pushes thru the fear.

I just happen to find this movie in Blockbuster...this movie should be seen round the world.

I saw this years ago at Brattle Theatre in Cambridge and never forgot it. My memory about the plot is vague but it goes something like this--It's about a woman living with a boyfriend who doesn't love or respect her. Then the circus comes to town and she falls in love with a woman working there. She tries to fight the feeling but finally gives in. It leads to a happy (if somewhat unbelievable) conclusion.

This gained some controversy when it was first released because it was slapped with an NC-17. Why? The MPAA felt the sex scene between the two women was too explicit! That's absolutely ridiculous. I saw the uncut version and the sequence was soft core, erotic and not even remotely explicit. The director accused the MPAA of homophobia but cut out a minute or so to get the R rating. Sex aside this was beautifully done. The acting was good, the script interesting and well directed. It drew me in completely and the happy ending was great. If you get a chance see it. Wonderful movie.

I first rented this film 2 years ago & I am still renting it today when I go to the store. I have never seen love portrayed in such an open,honest,wanting & unsured of their feelings kind of way. It is presented in a way most of us feel when we fall in love for the first time or when we fall in love with someone that is not the norm according to society. Even to this day I am impress with the way Patricia Rozema show the characters in such an emotional way, that leaves the audience understanding why these two people fall in love. By the way Pascale Bussieres and Rachael Crawford were GREAT in this movie! After seeing this movie a viewer truly stops categorizing this movie(in a genre such as lesbian/gay, canadian film, etc)and see that showing a love story is the true purpose of this film.

Guys! Don't critize me too much!

This film is so beautiful it could be enjoyed without sound. But what a shame it would be to miss the brilliant, sensitive dialog.

Communication of confusion and insecurity is frightening in its accuracy. The only reason it's not a 10 is the obvious use of symbolism to compensate for a suitable ending. The connection with the lead character builds to an intense level and is suddenly abandoned when the story turns a corner.

Camille fillets her life in front of us through one engaging scene after another and we deserve to see her in the resultant passion or pain (or likely both) that results.

When Night is Falling is notable for one of the strongest and most realistic depiction of a lesbian sexual relationship ever seen on screen, and to its credit it portrays a lesbian relationship more naturally and positively than most films do, and if it helped any person anywhere feel better and more secure about their own sexuality, then it did its part and I applaud it. As a piece of cinema, though, it didn't really work for me. Pascale Bussières and Rachael Crawford are both quite good, but I didn't see any real chemistry between them; there's a sense of connection between the two only in the (very powerful and sensual) sex scenes, and since the film tries to portray their relationship as a romantic one in addition to a sexual one, I feel like it failed. Camille and Petra are clearly attracted to each other and Camille is in love with the concept that is Petra, but I never felt convinced that there's any genuine feeling between them. The romantic relationship between the two women remains a fairy-tale, and it doesn't have the realistic emotion that the film tries to achieve.

It doesn't help matters that the film tries for a statement against organized religion for trying to repress same-sex relationships. The problem here is that in the same breath the church chastises heterosexual relationships with about the same fervor as same-sex ones, and the criticism comes off muddled and vague.

The film tries hard to make itself memorable with some very pretty cinematography and tons of metaphors, but in the end it felt clumsy and amateurish to me. On one hand it strives for an honest and realistic depiction of a love affair; on the other it muddles it up with religious imagery and spiritual symbolism and it all feels like too much of an effort. It's all quite pretty, and the film indeed has some very memorable scenes, but it doesn't help the story or the message in any way, and it's not done well enough to make the film a real artistic achievement. For all the good it does, it stays on the level of an after-school special, rather than a true piece of cinema.

Personally, I thought this movie was as bizarre as the "Sirkus of Souls" that was featured in it. Camille (Pascale Bussieres) is a mythology teacher at a Christian college. It is a typical movie-world caricature of all things Christian, so that the college is filled with rather unlikable characters, headed by "the Reverend" (David Fox). It's homophobic, and that part of the story is filled with cliché theological lines like "love the sinner and hate the sin." Camille is also having an affair (outside marriage) with Martin (Henry Czerny) - a theology teacher who, aside from one sex scene with Camille, appears to have both the personality and passion of a fish. After Camille's dog dies (and for some reason she decides to stick the dog's body in her refrigerator) she goes to do her laundry, and at the local laundry mat meets circus performer Petra (Rachael Crawford). Immediately attracted to each other, they circle for a bit, and then become passionate lovers.

I understand that this is a kind of "finding yourself" story. Camille is breaking free of her past and discovering her real identity, etc., etc. But this was really way too weird – beginning with the decision to put the dog in the refrigerator. I also found it – shall we say – disingenuous (because that sounds much nicer than dishonest) when I discovered that in an interview a couple of years ago, writer-director Patricia Rozema flatly stated that her intention in this movie was not to "titillate" – because that's something only porn movies do, she said. Balderdash. If she wanted to avoid titillation perhaps she should have left out the three sex scenes in the movie, the one between Camille and Martin, and two others between Camille and Petra. If she wanted to avoid titillation perhaps she could have stuck with a sensual rather than a sexual portrayal of the relationship between Camille and Petra. The sensuality and even Camille's growing interest in Petra could have been portrayed quite easily without the sex (the massage scene, for example, was totally innocent and yet perhaps the most sensual scene in the entire movie.) Rozema seems to be protesting a bit too much on that point.

The movie's ending got its point across, but there was really no mystery to the movie's point. Camille falls asleep in the snow and essentially freezes to death from hypothermia, but she's revived by – among other things – lots of cuddles and snuggles from Petra and she re-awakens into a new life. Yeah. I got it. What I really didn't get was why the dog woke up after – and where the dog was going? (2/10)

This movie is really tender, touching, and warm. The 2 lead actresses were very good and had good chemistry in between them. These 2 have complete opposite personalities with different passions for lives. Yet somehow, they come across with one another and fall in love with each other. Camille fought with her own inner feelings for Petra and finally, she went for who she really loved. The ending is very sweet, the true love staying with each other. Sometimes it is difficult to figure out what you really want but what is more importantly how you embrace it despite all difficulties in life. Camille had to go thru emotional battles with her feelings for her boyfriend and the Christian school job. The circus performances scenes were great and interesting. The lovemaking scene between them is very passionate and romantic. These 2 actresses were excellent. The dialogs are interesting. The director has done an outstanding job with both directing and writing. Overall, it is a great movie to watch and keep for collection. Highly recommended.

Pretty average film, the lead seems like quite a decent actress, shame that her love interest was so wooden. There were attempts to make some sort of religious points but they never seemed to lead anywhere, the plot is basic and shallow. The carnival elements were really campy but served their main purpose so far that they contrasted with the lifestyle of Camille. I thought it was a made for TV movie to be honest but it looks like it is supposed to be an art house film.

The best thing about this film ?, there is an absolutely hilarious payoff at the end (although I am sure it was not intended to be funny by the film maker).

So much of the film bears little or no relevance to the plot which is poorly strung together. I suspect the scenes of the circus performers were added to give the film an 'artzy' bohemian flavor, but it failed miserably. I believe many of the scenes were added as padding to stretch it out to 90 minutes, 80 of which were thoroughly boring. The script coupled with the acting acting of the two leading ladies barely aroused any emotions. However, the sex scenes where done tastefully but let down by the appalling script. There were too many awkward pauses which lead me to believe even the actors themselves didn't understand what message or emotions they were intending to convey. By far the best part of the movie was the musical score.

Bought this film several years back. It had played at several theatres during its first release but I never did get down to actually viewing this film. When I finally bought the film and watched it, it definately went beyond my expectations. Everything about the film was near perfect. One could feel the emotions that each character was conveying on screen. The film was beautifully shot. The love scenes were incredibly erotic. A near perfect film.

A gorgeous, sensual delight. This is one of the most beautiful movies i have

ever seen. It is hard to come by honest romantic lesbian movies and catching

this one on TV was certainly one of the highlights in the past years.

The movie managed to provoke many emotions in me, from joy, to anger, to

deep sorrow and everything in between. It got me started to look into the

Canadian movie scene more, especially on this type of topic, as there are

excellent examples out there, this being a prime one.

Since accidentally buying this film a week ago, I've been watching it almost

everyday. It is a very moving piece, incredibly romantic and beautifully shot. I have no expertise on movie direction but all credit goes to Patricia for her

creativity. Apart from being incredibly gorgeous, the leading ladies gave a very moving performance, which intern moved me.

This movie could have been another enjoyable and calm romantic drama but it just didn't deliver on so many fronts. Although we get some nice cinematography and earthy cello music, it doesn't make up for the lack of story and character development. Looking back, it feels like nothing happens in this film, the characters are presented on a surface level and the simple story that could have worked is often interrupted by weird scenes that don't make sense.

The dialogue in this movie is seriously so strange, I swear some lines are just thrown in there with zero regard for the context, it almost seems like a mistake. Characters' strange actions are never questioned or explained, leaving the viewer questioning where they got the motivation for them or why nobody is reacting in an appropriate way.

The story could be summarised in two sentences and the main relationship between the two women is never really developed on anything but a sexual level. They barely have any meaningful conversation in the film and then suddenly are in love with each other. I often watch romantic films as a guilty pleasure, not expecting great storytelling, but this didn't even deliver a believable relationship. If you're looking for a romantic drama, I would recommend anything but this (-just watch Carol again).

I saw this in the Cinema when it first came out. I didn't know what to expect, I just saw this sensual looking movie poster and decided to go. I was not disappointed, in fact I was enthralled by the lushness of this most beautiful film. Simply put;a love story. The Protagonist, Camille is a Theologian, a Teacher of Mythology. Seemingly happy with her life pretty much mapped out. A handsome boyfriend, a tidy well kept life, a formal career within a religious school. Her world is shaken up by a chance meeting in a laundromat, with of all people a circus performer, Petra. What follows is Camille re-evaluating her life and her loves, the backdrop for her journey is the eclectic, vibrant, theatrical circus. Giving the viewer giddily beautiful scenes, from juggling orbs of light, to romantic interludes, amongst rich theater drapes. This movie took my breath away, I saw it 5 times in that cinema, then followed it to another one, when the run finished. In essence this film made it easier to come to terms with my own sexuality, because of that it will always have a special place in my heart.

This film is tremendously human, and very beautiful. Watch it.

That's really all I want to say, but the IMDb, in its wisdom, insists on an essay.

While most lengthy comments truly are useful, considered and very detailed, they don't necessarily give you any better an idea of what a film is *like*, beyond what the blurb on a video box tells you. I saw such a blurb for this film and it dissuaded me from bothering to watch it until I'd forgotten about it.

I like it. Other things I like are people, love, closeness. I'm white, Western, middle-aged, male, bisexual, middle-class.

This is a film about people, love and closeness. It's tremendously optimistic, and it's completely devoid of the spiteful "cleverness" which seems to blight so many adult-targeted films. People rave about, say, The Godfather, which I detest, or Pulp Fiction, which I detest even more. If, like me, you find you have better things to do with your time than sit through three hours of gangster-related faux intellectualism, you might, like me, find that you very much enjoy this fabulously directed and produced feast for the sympathetic.

Nothing, but nothing truly awful happens to anyone in this film. No vengeful, base emotion is indulged in the viewer, no cheapening of pain or trivialisation of death. The characters, though, are solid and believable.

There are some delicious love scenes, and the plot is unashamedly up-beat. If you liked "Nine Songs", you might not like this. If you liked "The Dreamers" or "Holy Smoke" or "Gauzon Maudit" then you might like this, although apart from sumptuous cinematography it's not that similar to any of those.

If you're apt to be offended by a perhaps jaded (if sympathetic) view of a Christian church, or by homosexuality (lesbianism), love, women, interracial relationships or happiness then stick with pretentious films about murder or whatever. If you like people, I think it's hard to dislike this film.

In this day and age, more than two decades later, we've become more tolerant, and looking back, why the big deal about two women together? What's so unacceptable about that? What's wrong? As long as two people love, let them live in love, the world needs more of that. I don't think two women in love have anything to hide. I think a heterosexual girl is very, very likely to land in far more 'shameful situations' than her counterpart. I mean, two girls together, what do they get up to? A bit of inventive fun, harmless, and it's generally quite wholesome to look at. Like in this movie. I see nothing to be ashamed of. Not in their sexual activity.

As for the movie itself, bit of a different story, I'm sorry to say. I felt like "hoo boy, I didn't pick a winner, geesh, this is going along dreary, it's not like the stuff I normally watch." I knew from the start that it was Canadian, I checked out the trailer on VuClip, I placed the order, but as the moment arrived, I had a feeling "don't expect too much..." and, no, I really didn't get too much.

The whole thing is kind of staid in places, the sapphic love scenes are beautiful but not really exceptional, there was no real spark, it lacked any real excitement. The big NC-17 rating makes it sound like porno material. It's very far from that. Very far. It's kind of wholesome. It's just two people in love, some naked smooching. Come on, what's the big deal?

Certainly, not this movie.

{I was going to call my review "a dog in the refrigerator" inspired by this movie being so different from my usual fare, but that looked so horrid for such a sweet movie. But it was a very uplifting moment when ol' Bob the dog crawled out of the snow grave. Liked that!}

Bought this film a few years back. After viewing it, I came to the conclusion that it was by far one of the most beautifully and artistically directed films i have ever seen that deals with the subject matter of a girl meets girl. The lead actresses Pascale Bussieres and Rachael Crawford had great chemistry and were equally beautiful which made the love scenes all the more believable and erotic. There was no contrived or cliched dialogue and you sympathized with the characters and what they were going through especially when Camille was torn between choosing Martin and Petra. This is by far one of the best Canadian productions made.

This is one of the best lesbian films I've ever watched. What I love most about this film is how the love scenes are tastefully acted and filmed. In contrast, many - if not most - lesbian films leave little left to the imagination. Another stark comparison is the fact that there are no serial killers, psychotics, or otherwise deranged characters. As we all know, it's not only common but inevitably predictable that heterosexually created films depicting G & L characterizations will include at least one of the aforementioned. Another aspect I find tremendously appealing is that the women involved in the depicted lesbian relationship are anyone's woman - meaning, not mannish or ostentatious at all. The script, direction, and acting are immensely above average in the lesbian film genre! All of the actors portray their characters convincingly. The circumstances in which they come together are easily conceivable in a real life scenario. The way it's filmed is appealing and displays moments of arty elements. I am of the opinion that this is a definite must own DVD.

This is one of those movies that - upon reflection - you realize was pushing for a very specific kind of message even back in the mid 1990s. There was nothing about this film that attempted in any way to broach this subject matter with any inkling of realism, despite trying to portray itself as a grounded, realistic drama set in modern times tackling a controversial and taboo approach to an explosive topic. Insofar, the film is about a heterosexual Christian Conservative woman, Camille, who is one day wooed by an alternative circus performer in a laundry mat one day. All it took was one touch and a few quick glances and Camille was willing to throw her entire life away for a ephemeral fling.

In some ways, you could argue that women do this all the time (and many do), where they get wooed and then throw their life away to uproot their prospects for some moments of perceived unquenchable passions they could only achieve through an affair. The thing is, in real life, those almost never work out and have long term, often permanent, consequences that are negative for almost everyone involved. There are countless channels these days dedicated to women who have had an affair and then after things implode, they come running back to their original spouse a year or so later either when the money runs dry or the wick that ignited the flames of passion burns out.

Maybe that would have been the future of Camille had the movie decided to explore that route, but ultimately the premise for her affair and her choices didn't really seem grounded in any sort of reality whatsoever, and was more-so an attempt by a director to portray and convince heterosexual women that "Wouldn't be grand to leave your prosperous life and loving fiance behind to be with another woman?"

Such a tease could only look enticing to women who already hate men, have zero interest in success, don't care about social standing, and despise security.

See, the movie attempts to portray Camille as having a very upward mobile career teaching at a somewhat prestigious but strict religious school. They basically WANT to give her everything, their only requirement is that she live by the rules she's teaching the kids - basically, no fornicating. They want her and her fiance to tie the knot, so they can live by the words they teach. In that regard, it makes perfect sense - and even then, they're not overtly harsh about it, just basically wanting to enforce rules they teach, which makes sense.

This is actually one of the best written aspects of the film, because it portrays an institution that actually cares about how it presents itself to its students and the rules they're trying to teach from the Bible, even while also covering other theological topics. They want Camille to be successful, and the movie portrays Camille as wanting to be successful. Her fiance is also on the upward swing, both of them due for promotions - they're also soon to be married. The movie also portrays her fiance as being caring, motivated, and considerate.

So why throw it all away? Well, as stated, a woman at the laundry mat briefly touched her, and they locked eyes for a bit. When she goes to return the laundry to the alternative circus performer named Petra, Petra makes no qualms about wanting to bed Camille, even though Camille is engaged. Petra does not care. Even though Camille makes it known she's not interested or like that, Petra continues to pursue her, even forcibly kissing her until Camille gives in, and then decides to toss her old life away for the fling.

But.... why?

Imagine if the roles were reversed: Imagine if Petra was a man, and did to Camille and approached her in the same way? Moviegoers would be outraged, likely even calling it assault and stalking. And guess what? They would be right.

The other thing is that the movie constantly portrays that Camille has a lot to lose by giving up her career and relationship. And she does. She basically has the perfect life laid out for her and everything to lose, and absolutely nothing to gain with Petra. Erstwhile the circus company that Petra is with is facing financial difficulties, and Camille's fiance also doesn't want to lose out on the promotion. There is the constant pressure that things will implode and decisions have to be made. Yet Camille doesn't seem to care about any of that... just some moments of passion.

The question becomes, what happens when the passion dies out?

Even movies that attempted to portray a happy ending where opposites attract still made the audience aware that the relationship likely wasn't going to last, like Along Came Polly. In that case the "magical pixie girl" trope in Jennifer Aniston still monologues to Ben Stiller that things likely wouldn't work out between them. The straight-laced Stiller wants to give it a try and tries to convince her that he can change. There's still this reservation about it working, and even critics and moviegoers commented that the relationship likely wasn't going to last long-term, and that was a relationship that was built on more honesty and solid foundations than the one depicted in When Night Is Falling. Even still, it also highlighted that opposites attracting also comes with a lot of hardships and difficulties for one or both partners.

The inverse of that, where the bad boy is sought after for domestication, is something like The Indian Runner. That movie accurately portrays what happens when you chase after Chad: he doesn't stick around one place for long due to a lot of trauma and drama, and there are a lot of consequences that everyone else has to pay for that.

This movie sets up a lot of the consequences that Camille just kind of ignores, and that's why I rated it the way I did. It's a movie that attempts to encourage the "follow your heart trope", but doesn't have Camille did with any of the long-term consequences because she makes a choice that goes against every single metric of her biological programming. And it does absolutely nothing to address that programming.

In real life when this happens there is a lot of turmoil and heartbreak, and the movie kind of washes over all that. If the movie had in some way realistically addressed this, sort of like the movie The Breakup or Breaking Up, two movies that realistically addressed the "opposites attract" and showed the long-term hurt and heart break that comes along with it, maybe I would have rated it higher.

But ultimately When Night Is Falling decided to to have Camille ignore every potentiality related to starting a family, having financial security, or any kind of future stability. In other words, Camille lives in a fantasy world and pursues it while the passion burns, but the movie decided to forgo any kind of outlook on the consequences for Camille and that choice.