Feb 1

Feb 1 FILM REVIEW: "The Sound of Falling" is a dark, shimmering, kaleidoscopic meditation on life and death

InThe Sound of Falling, we are presented with four girls and their families as they inhabit the same house through four distinct periods of twentieth and twenty-first century Germany.

This delicate impressionistic piece of cinema sculpts moments into seemingly disparate scenes, but as more is revealed, themes and connections begin to develop. Motifs of sounds, like the scratching of a record, and images, like the ghostly photograph of a two-faced mother mourning her pictured dead child, are woven throughout, creating rich threads that reward your sustained attention.

The film's visuals are unrestrained: Handheld camera following the young girls of the family running through the house post-prank, is suddenly sent into the youngest’s perspective of All Souls’ Day and the eerie ritual of silent soup consumption. One particularly striking imagery that appeared throughout the film was that of the river. The intensely stylised shots from within the water, catching the suspensions of dirt in light, felt like a kind of gold-flecked sepia, which was absolutely mesmerising.

Thematically, this film doesn’t shy away from uncomfortable topics. Two of the threads are set during the World Wars, and this sits in the background in different ways: whether it’s parentally inflicted amputations for the purposes of draft dodging, or resigned suicide to avoid the imminent post-war spoil-taking. And while these storylines can seem disconnected, resolution eventually arrives, and each scene serves as a counterpoint to bring meaning in the end.

Whether it’s an explanation of a mother’s aloofness due to survivor’s guilt, or spontaneous cessation of body and being from a willed effort and the implied ascension to some celestial realm, the lasting impression of this film comes from the experience of the eerie and haunting tone.