The Falling

One of the London Film Festival's handful of world premieres, The Falling had naturally generated buzz as it's a film funded by the BFI, which is quite unusual for them. Unfortunately, while it has its merits, it doesn't quite live up to expectation as a whole. That said, the limited budget is impressively spread out with a solid cast including Game of Thrones' Maisie Williams and convincing 1960s production and costume design. The creativity of director/writer Carol Morley is less striking. It's a film interested in starting a lot of tangents without finishing them, or instead giving us underwhelming payoffs. It's built on the backbone of an odd mystery, one it's uninterested in resolving, but interested in escalating.

Set in a 1969 girls school, when the promiscuous student Abbie, played by Florence Pugh, accidentally gets pregnant, she begins to suffer from fits of fainting seemingly at random. Her best friend Lydia, played by Williams, deals with the consequences after the epidemic spreads across the school with girls fainting out of control. The film appears to be a story about the friendship between Lydia and Abbie, but it fractures off into different directions, some more engaging than others. Most dramatically is exploration into Lydia's past, or rather, how she came into this world. Her relationship with her agoraphobic mother, played by Maxine Peake, is a key aspect of the film and one of the few things that eventually pay off in a satisfying way, if a disturbing one. It needed some more development beforehand to feel fully fleshed out, but the delivery of it in the third act is the film's greatest strength.

While kept deliberately ambiguous, it appears that the fainting is somewhat of a punishment for early sexual behaviour (which incidentally appears to mostly be instigated by Lydia's brother, played by Joe Cole). There's no charm in its apparent disdain and shaming for the young girls' urges and it doesn't feel like a thought thoroughly argued through enough. It's most interesting for the way the authority figures react, which is in complete denial that anything is wrong, even when Lydia is on her knees in the hallway. Even so, characters don't react the way people would react to others fainting, though perhaps it's supposed to hint about how it's become so tiresome. It contributes to the uneasy atmosphere of the film with its dreamlike eeriness.

It is quite rewarding to see Maisie Williams in this type of environment for a change. It's clear that she's making the most of it and trying her best to feel natural, but she doesn't quite have the conviction to make it work just yet. In time she'll be a great actress. It just feels as though Morley has misjudged what the film was trying to do for the most part, thematically and tonally. It does have some good aspects and interesting tidbits, existentialism that's valid if unremarkable, but as a whole it brings nothing new stylistically to the table and is often too uninspired in execution. It has a bizarre sense of humour that doesn't quite gel with its thoughtfulness and mystery. Solid production for the budget, interesting and engaging moments here and there, but The Falling is misguided from the script's initial intentions direction.

6/10

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THE FALLING is a film detailing an outbreak of fainting at an all-girl school in 1969. Such events are well-documented in real life and often have the authorities and various specialists puzzled, although it's widely acknowledged that they're psychosomatic in nature. So there's potential here for an interesting storyline.

Unfortunately, the storyline of THE FALLING is all over the place. For the first half hour it's a typical tale of teenage angst and friendship. Things take a darker turn with the introduction of incestuous sub-plots and the like, but then they become ridiculous with the well-choreographed fainting spells. Subliminal imagery abounds, alongside some hinted-at supernatural aspects, but it all adds up to far less than the sum of its components. What's the message here, anyway? What's it all about?

I previously saw director Carol Morley's docu-drama DREAMS OF A LIFE and that was a similar film in that it had an interesting premise but sub-standard execution. Plus, Morley doesn't seem to be very assured at getting good performances out of her actors, and the acting is of a distinctly wishy-washy standard here. I love Maisie Williams in GAME OF THRONES, but she seems unsure of herself here and sometimes just feels like Arya in a school uniform.

Set in the 1960s at an all girl school we meet Lydia (Masie Williams) who has a best friend in Abbie. They have it all as friends and a love of nature centring around an old oak tree. They have a mixed bag of teachers who seem to adhere to Victorian values and modesty principles – that is despite the burgeoning 'summer of love'.

Then tragedy happens and Masie starts to have fainting fits – very soon the phenomenon spreads and she seems to be at the centre of it. Throw in a mum with issues (Maxine Peake) and a bit of the Occult, forbidden sex and deep rooted paranoia and you have the makings of a rather good story.

Maxine Peake is billed starring here, but she is not really on screen for a great period of time; Greta Scacchi as the dowdy Miss Mantel is though pure excellence in a performance dripping with understatement. I have seen comparisons to 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' and even the events around Salem and the subsequent Witch trials. However, I think such comparisons may lead to expectations that may not be met. It is though a film that had a great idea and I think it could have been taken much further as it sort of peters out; despite that it is still on I can recommend.

When a charismatic classmate dies, her school-friends start to suffer from a mysterious mass fainting fit. Is it supernatural, grief or just a cry for attention? The headmistress (well-played by Greta Saatchi) just wishes it would all go away. It's a nice concept, but the film seems too obviously sympathetic to the girls, without really letting us inside their heads. Oddly, they don't seem to be so freaked out by their condition. Also, the soundtrack is absurdly intrusive, and deflates rather than enhances the natural atmosphere. And there's just a little too much in the way of extraneous plot - budding sexuality, a troubled mother - daughter relationship - to truly build the sense of claustrophobia which would be needed to make the film a success. Overall, it's just a little bit blander than one might have hoped.

Puberty is a strong advocate for personable change. Experiencing the evolutionary adolescence that transforms sprouted children into blossoming young adults. Yet, the journey is rarely uncomplicated, demanding physical and mental energy that springs hormonal tendencies into action. None more demanding than the friendship between youthful girls, minor fraternities conjuring rites of passage to solidify bonds. Morley's distinctively bold mystery encompasses the pubescence of an all-girl school, experiencing synchronised mass hysteria after the tragic death of a fellow pupil.

A psychological contagion enabling the exploration of sexuality, moulded by misty melodrama against an autumnal period backdrop. Disturbingly beguiling in nature, through metaphorical body possessions that highlight supernatural elements within the obtrusive sexual motives. Morley, for the most part, captivates when allowing her acting talent to shine through. An innocently naive Williams bravely controlling every scene in her leading role as a psychologically deterred student whom seemingly is a catalyst for the hysteria breakouts. Hospitalised, psychoanalysed and actively withdrawn from therapy, the spells of hysteria are never elaborated. An unexplainable mass psychogenic illness. Morley's intent in ambiguity enables her ostentatious narrative to visualise sexualisation. Hormonal chemicals invading the bloodstream and controlling the mind. A possession, if you will.

Conversely, her screenplay resorts to ethereal poetry and psychedelic narration, emphasising the connectivity between these girls. Unfortunately, several conversational scenes spoon-feed proposed metaphors for the assurance of acknowledgement, most notably the one-sided therapy session that Lydia and her friends endure. Diminishing the bold interpretations that preceded the conclusive act almost indefinitely.

Then the final ten minutes commence and Morley outwardly encounters her own spell of hysteria. The tone alters. The mood unequivocally changes. The pace quickens. She dabbles into darker subjects, a territory that heavily contrasts with the predominantly mystifying narrative. The virginal Lydia interrogating her neglectful agoraphobic mother regarding her father, whilst developing an incestuous relationship with her brother. Discovering her true roots, subsequently offering a hereditary reasoning for her mental instability. It's at this point where Morley loses that tight narrative control. Explicitly presenting a shallow explanation that manages to resolve familial turmoil in a matter of minutes, allowing the supernatural aura to dissipate. Not to mention how under-utilised and misdirected Peake was. Fortunately Pugh's illuminatingly perfect performance makes up for lost talent. The editing imaginatively strings various images together during rapid flashback scenes, which proved effective for the most part. Thorn's soundtrack however was too audacious and overpowering, likening The Falling to a casual summer school trip rather than an existential piece of art.

Morley is a credible director, and The Falling is one feature that uniquely tackles a variety of subjects in a mesmerisingly imaginative manner. Its fundamental issues however are situated in its inappropriate climax and misplaced technicalities that allow the narrative to repetitively faint far too often.