The Fall

"The Fall", a technically and artistically okay flick filmed in Budapest, tells of a frustrated American writer (Scheffer) who finds himself involved in drama and intrigue when his flat is invaded by a beautiful woman on the run (de Fougerolles). A flawed screenplay with a thin story which doggedly wrestles with its own flimsy plot, "The Fall" makes for the kind of monotonous watch which is most likely to be enjoyed on late night tv when the picking is slim.

This film was way above average, and is - in my opinion - greatly underestimated. The opening sequence is exciting and gripping, and the story moves at a fast pace as the plot twists and turns towards an intriguing finish. Most of the performances were very good. Helene de Fourgerolles is new to me, but she was excellent, and it was impossible to tell whether she or the ever-reliable Jurgen Prochnow were telling the truth. My only quibble was that Craig Sheffer never convinced, neither his fear of nor his his fascination for the lovely Marta came across properly, and this was a pity. Try and see it, the rest of the cast more than make up for him.

The all too brief images of a very limited number of Budapest locales and the few actual Hungarian actors, plus the excellent Jurgen Prochnow are not enough to save this insipid, convoluted mess. The 3 other leads deliver performances akin to cardboard cut-outs, although it may well be the very poorly written script's lack of coherence that's to blame. If it's Budapest you're interested in, you'll do better watching a travelogue. There are many other very fine foreign films that deserve a viewing, give one of those a chance and pass on this one.

Set in Budapest, this Canadian thriller has enough interesting elements to make it a winner.

Lots of plot twists, amazing camera work, great shots of Hungary!

Even though at the time I thought I had nothing else to do besides watching it, and that it was on TV, I regret wasting my time on this movie. This flick is definitely one of the most incoherent, twisted, worthless pieces of work I've ever seen. The story involves so many contradictions, it becomes an unintentional comedy (and that only if you have a big sense of humor). The picture, sound, and other technical work is OK, but if you're just looking to see good technical work, then get the National Geographic or the Discovery Channel. The sex scene seems to be made just to accomplish a requirement (because it was too soft, so unnecessary and unjustifiable to the story). It's like mixing elements without any sense of coherence, just to get a movie that has it all. And yep, it has action (poor performance there), it has mystery, suspense, sex (too graphic and too soft at the same time), nudity, violence, BUT NO LOGICAL ADHESION BETWEEN THEM. Big waste of time to say the less.