Lydia (Maisie Williams) and Abbie (Florence Pugh) are two teenagers enjoying a tight bond at an English girls' school in 1969. Abbie, all effortless beauty and unaffected self-confidence, makes the leap into womanhood with a boy, opening an inevitable rift between herself and Lydia. As Lydia deals with her anger, she begins a regimen of inexplicable fainting, an historic form of hysteria, which becomes very public as it begins to overtake others at the school. Morely provides shocking twists as she steers The Falling in curious directions.

Morely also weaves smart performances together with gorgeous, rhythmic cinematography (Agnes Godard) and music (Tracey Thorn). The movie is as much a tone poem filled with magical realism as it is a narrative drama. Relaxed but assured direction makes simple conceits blend smoothly with the movie as a whole. We find haunting, repetitive musical motifs to be played by the cast in a sort of band. A sinuous tree above a pond on school grounds twists and turns with Lydia's emotions. Morely creates a rapturous effect, sneaky and slightly surreal, grounded mostly by Lydia's bullishness, and the performances of several others in the cast.

Carol Morely's The Falling is a heady mix of young sexuality and confusion. Filled with great performances, and seamlessly integrated with music and pictures, the result is hypnotic, fascinating, and fun. Recommended.

The DVD

Video:
Fall on this 16 x 9 widescreen presentation, preserving the film's 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Colors are stylistically muted but rich and deep. Black levels are decent, and it is an at times dark film. Images can be either gauzy or crystal clear, indicating that these choices are also in favor of style, and that the transfer renders them well, without any compression artifacts.

Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio is nicely dimensional. Although this might be thought of as a 'dialog heavy' movie, its idiosyncratic soundtrack needs to, and sounds great. The dynamic range is broad, music and other elements are mixed well with that dialog, and overall the audio picture enhances the mysterious nature of the movie.

Extras:
Extras are limited to the following, a 7-minute BTS featurette, The Story Of The Falling and the Theatrical Trailer.

Final Thoughts:
Carol Morely's The Falling is a heady mix of young sexuality and confusion. Filled with great performances, and seamlessly integrated with music and pictures, the result is hypnotic, fascinating, and fun. Recommended.

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