| The Falls | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Peter Greenaway |
| Written by | Peter Greenaway |
| Music by | Michael Nyman |
Release date |
|
Running time | 185 min |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Falls is a 1980 film directed byPeter Greenaway. It was Greenaway's first feature-length film after many years making shorts. It does not have a traditional dramatic narrative; it takes the form of amock documentary in 92 short parts.
The world has been struck by a mysterious incident called the "Violent Unknown Event" or VUE, which has killed many people and left a great many survivors suffering from a common set of symptoms: mysterious ailments (some appearing to be mutations of evolving into a bird-like form), dreaming of water (categorised by form, such as Category 1, Flight, or Category 3, Waves) and becoming obsessed with birds and flight. Many of the survivors have beengifted withnew languages. They have alsostopped ageing, making them immortal (barring disease or injury).
A directory of these survivors has been compiled, andThe Falls is presented as a film version of an excerpt from that directory, corresponding to the 92 entries for persons whose surnames begin with the letters FALL-. Not all of the 92 entries correspond to a person – some correspond to deleted entries, cross references and other oddities of the administrative process that has produced the directory. One biography concerns two people – the twin brothers Ipson and Pulat Fallari, who are played (in still photographs) by theBrothers Quay.
The Falls includes clips of a number of Greenaway's early shorts. It also anticipates some of his later films: the subject of biography 27, Propine Fallax, is a pseudonym for Cissie Colpitts, the central figure ofDrowning by Numbers (1988), while the car accident in biography 28 prefigures that inA Zed and Two Noughts (1985).
The largely formal and deadpan manner of the narration contrasts with the absurdity of the content.
The soundtrack is mainly byMichael Nyman and is partly based, like his later music forDrowning by Numbers, on the slow movement ofMozart'sSinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra K. 364. It also includes numerous clips from various songs popular among the avant-garde of the time, including pieces byBrian Eno (in particular "Golden Hours" fromAnother Green World) and snippets of "Jugband Blues", the last songSyd Barrett recorded withPink Floyd.
The Falls has an 80% approval rating onRotten Tomatoes,[1] with Nathan Lee ofThe Village Voice calling it "the most playful and engaging of Greenaway's compositions".[2]
Vincent Canby writing in theNew York Times gaveThe Falls a mostly positive review, saying 'thoughThe Falls is much too long for its own good, its rewards are real'.[3]