The Fall

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!

An good thriller which in my opinion was let down by a slightly dubious cast and poor direction. While the script was a little obvious it seemed to have the potential for much more and I liked the premise of a foreigner out of his depth in a strange country and the central relationship that was bought together by this situation. I think the director however missed out on building the tense claustrophobic atmosphere that this should have been. This could have been partly due to the cinematography however, which, while starting out with very stylish exteriors, seemed to lose all sense of it's cinematic scope on the interiors.

I noticed that the script was based upon Michael Walker's original screenplay. Having recently seen some of his short work which seems to be doing very well at the moment I wonder what his original screenplay was like?

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.

In Budapest, the aspirant writer Adam Ellis (Craig Sheffer) from New York lives with the also American Lisa Warrington (Kim Huffman) in an apartment that belongs to her chief József Kovács (Jürgen Prochnow) that Lisa worships. Kovács is a former communist and presently an entrepreneur hated by his compatriots. One day, a blonde (Hélène de Fougerolles ) is chased by two men in the subway and then on the streets; however she cuts the throat of one of them with a straight razor in a corridor in a building. Then she breaks in Adam's apartment to flee from the other man. She tries to seduce Adam and then she tells a strange story about her husband, her little daughter and Kovacs. Adam decides to help her but is the woman telling the truth?

"The Fall" is an awful and worthless low-budget thriller, with an absurd, incoherent and unbelievable story and ridiculous plot point. The behavior of the dumb Adam in a foreign country is unconvincing and I doubt that someone could be as stupid as his character is. The sex scene is absolutely unnecessary and senseless and does not add any value to the story. The final twist is ridiculous. My vote is two.

Title (Brazil): "Ilusão Fatal" ("Fatal Illusion")

About the only thing I learned from this film is that Budapest is now the new Paris where one goes to find his creative muse. At least that's what Craig Sheffer is there for according to him. But as far as I'm concerned I didn't get to see enough of Budapest to make it worthwhile even as a travelogue.

But happily living and kanoodling with Kim Huffman has enough diversions and apparently he's living off her. But then the sexy Helene DeFougerolles breaks into his place after escaping a couple of men after her. After that Sheffer starts thinking with his male member.

A cursed and muddled plot characterizes The Fall and no one walks away from this with their artistic reputations intact.