The Fall

Allegretto. The second movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No 7. The cellos draw you in. Is that hope you hear in their soft strings? Or is it dread? The violins begin to weep, spilling sorrow and gentle grace, the music swelling, suspense building as the tremendous gravitas of the 200-year-old movement unleashes emotion so raw that your stomach fills with a sense that something truly momentous is occurring.

This is how we begin the emotional plunge into The Fall. In slow motion. In black and white. In silence but for Beethoven’s masterpiece throbbing in our ears. This first scene is starkly different to the rest of the film, which brims with colour and touching dialogue. What we see is not explained for some time, and much like the poignant music which accompanies it, it remains a relic of the past, mysterious and important, like a fairytale.

In 1915, Roy, an American stuntman, is badly injured while shooting a movie. Unlikely ever to walk again, he is bedridden in a hospital in Los Angeles, where he meets Alexandria, a little Romanian girl with a broken arm, and regales her with tales of her namesake, Alexander The Great. Roy’s epic tales conjure vivid images in Alexandria’s mind. Each day she returns to hear more of the fantastic adventures, where the characters of her mundane daily life become heroes and villains of epic, visually exquisite sagas. These scenes are heard in Roy’s voice, but seen in Alexandria’s mind, acted out with imaginative drama and a child’s whimsical naivety.

But Roy has an ulterior motive for telling these tales. His legs shattered, his life in pieces, he wants to die. Luring her in with his stories, Roy tries to trick Alexandria into helping him commit suicide. As much as The Fall will warm your heart, it will also break it.

‘The Fall’ by Tarsem Singh, production: Radical Media

‘The Fall’ by Tarsem Singh, production: Radical Media

Among other things, The Fall is about escapism. Alexandria longs to be transported from loneliness and hardship, and Roy longs to escape life altogether. Neither of them succeeds in transcending their harsh realities, but, instead, they inadvertently find reasons to stay. To seek escapism is not necessarily cowardly. It can provide a source of inspiration, and so long as we don’t abandon real life in favour of fiction and fantasy, it can bolster us during difficult times, and hoist us out of the lowest of lows.

We could all use a little bolstering at the moment. It’s a scary time to be a human. But keeping your finger on the pulse 24/7, digesting every scrap of information on the escalating disaster, is not healthy. Stay informed and stay safe, but don’t let wonder fall by the wayside. Watch a movie, read a novel. Is that dread you feel in those pages? Or is it hope? ML