What could have been an interesting and provocative mystery drama is lost in a haze of mismatched performances and a disappointingly cowardly ending. But ultimately it has to be down to the face that The Falling is so incredibly unbalanced. All the subtlety and smallness of her performance as Lydia’s agoraphobic mother is drowned out by Williams overacting. Perhaps the fact that the incredibly talented Maxine Peake is so massively underused was a contributing factor. Morley’s inspiration for The Falling is drawn from so many films I love that it’s hard to see exactly where it all when wrong for me.
Tracey Thorn’s light pop echoes discordantly, breaking any sense of mounting tension with immature overtones. This almost nostalgic atmosphere is pierced however by the strange soundtrack choice. Nicely muted with a deep saturation level, visually The Falling works well as a period piece. Yet Morley creates and maintains an impressive colour palette for the film and the viewer swims through autumnal tones of green, grey and blue and brown. Indeed, even in interactions with minor characters Williams stands out whereas the other schoolgirls seem much more believable. While it is possible to read Williams performance as indicative of Lydia’s pretence-she is constantly ‘acting’ to those around her- it is so tonally jarring and continually disrupts the film’s dream-like atmosphere. You can almost hear her reading the lines off the page making the idea that she may be instilling this mysterious Munchausen’s syndrome completely unbelievable. In typical teenage angst, everything is perfect or terrible, yet all delivered by Williams in the same monotone whine. Williams’ performance feels overdone and heavy handed, failing to the fill the void of charisma left by Abbie. However, once the narrative thrusts Lydia into the limelight, the film goes somewhat awry. It’s easy to see how she could influence those around her and her obsessively close bond with Lydia (Maisie Williams) is a well-observed portrayal of female teenage friendship. Florence Pugh puts in an exceptionally strong début performance as Abbie, casting a spell over the viewer as they are drawn into her world. Morley’s flirtation between possible explanations is short lived, underdeveloped and frankly disappointingly unconvincing. Sadly The Falling falls significantly short of its interesting premise. Carol Morley) delicately tiptoes between over-stimulated schoolgirl hysteria and a more sinister, supernatural explanation. As strangely ethereal fainting fits spread through the school like wildfire and the teachers refuse to intervene, The Falling (2014, dir. Mass hysteria sweeps through an uptight girls’ school when one of the students dies under unusual circumstances.
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