The Falling

Dir: Carol Morley

2014

****

While Carol Morley’s brilliant Dreams of a Life was largely dramatized, this is her first venture out of documentary and into fictional drama and it’s a bold one. I expected a Picnic at Hanging Rock type affair but The Falling was much more like a Nicolas Roeg picture, without wanting to take anything away from Morley. I thought the film started rather slowly at first but I now realise this was all part of the clever setup, and what might have seemed a little dull, soon becomes riveting and I being enveloped in its mystery and otherworldliness. There is an eerie resonance about the film that makes it rather unique. The story is set in an all-girls school in 1969, two friends, Abigail and her best friend Lydia, are inseparable. Abigail is the beautiful one, with classic long blonde hair and blue eyes, she is seemingly perfect and Lydia is a little besotted with her and jealous of anyone else who gets close. Lydia lives with her brother and agoraphobic mother, whom largely ignores her. When Abigail becomes sexually active, Lydia becomes even more fixated with her and is there to confide in when Abigail realises that she’s pregnant. Abigail keeps the pregnancy secret from everyone but Lydia, until another girl overhears and she ends up telling everyone, much to Lydia’s jealousy. Then, one lively night at Lydia’s, both girls are having fun with Lydia’s brother Kenneth when he convinces Abigail that sexual penetration might work to terminate the baby, much to Lydia’s disappointment. Over the next few weeks Abigail becomes ill and faints several times at school, which makes the teachers suspicious. Abigail is reprimanded by the faculty more than the other girls due to her short skirts and the clear indication she’s developing faster. During an evening detention, Abigail collapses and dies in one of her teacher’s arms and Lydia is left in shock. The rest of the film thereafter is a fascinating look at adolescent girls in groups, the hierarchy in groups, competitive jealousy and what it can lead to. It’s the best representation of hysteria I have seen in film, approaching the subject with something of a supernatural feel while also showing it for what it is. It keeps you guessing without ever trying to fool the audience. It gets pretty dark in place, particularly when, in mimicking Abigail’s life and actions, Lydia becomes affectionate with her own brother. It’s particularly eerie when others continue the bizarre behaviour of Lydia, without anyone knowing of Lydia’s dark secret, which only her mother is aware of. On retrospect I wondered whether there was too much happening in the story and whether the ending really needed the stark conclusion, but I think it works. The acting is of a high standard, although watching Maisie Williams continuously faint was quite amusing, when it really shouldn’t have been. It’s a wonderfully layered film that I think plays with the audiences differing perception. It’s incredibly engrossing and often uncomfortable to watch, but impossible to look away from. The narrative style switches seamlessly halfway through the film, then again later on in the film, in a way that just shouldn’t work, but it does. It’s a remarkable from a film maker’s perspective, even if the story itself doesn’t appeal. I found it to be an unexpected delight, a theatrical phantasy but totally believable. It’s definitely a love or hate film, but one I think everyone can see something of quality in. I think Morley’s venture into fictional drama is a long time coming, I was captivated throughout.