Queda Livre

I want to say that Free Fall was an experience. In many ways is like a 40's melodrama. He, his wife and the other woman. What makes it feel different is that the other woman is a man. Hanno Koffler and Max Riemelt are superb as the forbidden sides of this triangle. Frank, compassionate, truthful and painful, very painful. The love and passion, fear and guilt in Hanno Koffler's eyes are haunting and recognizable. Max Riemelt's Kay makes the alternative in Koffler's Marc's life totally plausible and fills it with a form of suspense that the ending didn't completely clear out. So I'm so happy there will be a part 2. I can't wait.

There's one review here that says that the movie is boring. In my opinion it is not, it just gets boring at certain point. I think there are indeed limitations with the story which could have been solved by letting us know a little bit more of Kay. I think that would have been the best solution since the alternative was letting us hear what Borgmann was feeling, his struggle…which would have been a cheap resource. I don't agree with the commenter that does not understand why it is so hard for this man in this day and age to accept his sexuality. There are many factors and his parents' reaction works as a way to let us know what might be holding him back.

The weakness of the movie lies in the fact that it starts showing us something that we have seen many times before. At least the ending was satisfying, was simple and real.

I just saw this film and I thought it was a beautiful film. It is a fresh breath of air especially in USA where there are not too many good indie films being released. Seems like Hollywood just want to make 100 million dollar films with no heart. Of course, "Free Fall" had a heart in this film and it touches you inside. The cinematography was exceptional and truly captured the emotional state of the characters as well as the flow of the film. The director was able to get excellent performances from the actors which were very talented and put their heart into each character. It was a very well cast film. The two men in love were so real. They were masculine men just dealing with their emotions and trying to find who they were. Marc (Hanno Koffler) was a very believable character who was torn between his girlfriend, new baby and his true feelings for another man. Yes any parents would react this way when they have to deal with the sexuality of their son with a family. I liked that the director did not go too much into the life story of the lover Kay (Max Riemelt- look out for this guy) as it left me thinking about him and enjoying the friendship and bond between two men. It can happen to many men and it happens all the time.

This film is not a cliché. No movie gave me hope and took it right away leaving just expectations behind like this one did.

Once the love between two beautifully interpreted characters begins, one is immersed in the struggle they're into because of their feelings. Max Riemelt completely nailed it, his character (Kay) seems to have found the true Marc(Hanno Koffler)by giving himself to him. I can agree that this is "the German answer to Brokeback Mountain" but it lacks at exposing the whole life of the characters, you just can imagine where they come from and how did they get to where they are.

Between other things, the sound was impeccable, it makes you feel very closely to the moment and the feelings surrounding a scene. The costume design was a little bit stiff but you can easily see that the characters are going trough a routine and they are completely changed when they are not in regular situations. Also, the locations were beautiful without being very detailed.

It is focused on the fight generated by love and the consequences of the choices you make while you are trying to define yourself.

Although one is initially alerted to the possible use of the police academy setting to metaphorically delineate some of the dynamics present in a society's norms as part of its imposed conditioning (the training academy especially implying a sense of regimentation), this very well-made film actually registers most of its concerns in a low-key manner, allowing some indirection to come through the proceedings by giving enough space for subtler impressions and meaning.

Apparently, many viewers want to characterize the film's subject in terms of a conflicted choice between heterosexuality and homosexuality, which makes about as much sense as merely portraying its content as the treatment of a love triangle; it reveals a rather limited level of engagement and even suggests that such issues are far from politically resolved in their minds. But while the storyline could be read on the surface for perplexing issues around self-identity, sexual or otherwise, it is ultimately about someone who gradually allows himself the freedom to experience not only different ways of loving others, but also the vital ways in which life actually unfolds in a broader sense, beyond the difficulties of imposed human limitations.

The courage of Lacant's film lies in its delineation of what life is like when one truly begins to negotiate one's freedom by opening up fully to the presence of ambiguity and not knowing - entering into the "free fall" of the title - and going beyond limited distinctions, to find and live out what is actually true from moment to moment. A Taoist expression comes to mind as one follows Marc's trajectory into his own realm of truth: the more free you are, the more unpredictable you become.

Which asks us all: can you live out your truth in this most uncompromising way? Or, can you live with someone who is? What does freedom look like in a world full of all the shoulds and musts which we and others continually wish to impose upon ourselves? Marc begins to show us as he learns to submit to his own free-fall - which is no less than remaining open and vulnerable to whatever is transpiring.

The performances are excellent throughout, although working from a carefully written script which tends to deliberately tailor the depth of all the other characters beside Marc. Thus, while in the end Kai shows up as little more than a catalyst for Marc's awakening and perhaps generating our wish for a bit more character development, it is really Marc's story after all, and we are meant to inhabit the film's shades of meaning by traveling through his experiences from his vantage point.

It could be said that in a society no longer concerned with an immature sense of morality or inadequate ethics, Marc would both be able to bear a child with a woman as well as express the love he might feel for another man, if he is so inclined. But Marc, like the rest of us, is born in time, and therefore occupies a certain karmic status, posited by the complexity of circumstances… and the way to the truth is largely through one's karma.

Although we humans are still somewhat tribal and limited beings, whose sense of freedom is defined and grounded in our very limitations, the film nonetheless demonstrates in its closing statement that we can only live meaningfully by choosing from our own freedom - and thus encountering the possibility of a real and lived life, beyond all expectations - if we assume the courage to do so… a courage exemplified by director Lacant in this direct and honest film.