The Fall (2006 film)
Encyclopedia
The Fall is a 2006 adventure
fantasy film
directed by Tarsem Singh
, starring Lee Pace
, Catinca Untaru, and Justine Waddell
. It is based on the screenplay of the 1981 Bulgarian film
Yo Ho Ho by Valeri Petrov
. The film earned $3.2 million worldwide. The film was released to theaters in 2008. It should not be confused with another 2008 release of the same title, a legal drama by John Krueger.
Roy Walker (Lee Pace
) is in a hospital, bedridden and possibly paralyzed after a jump he took in his first film. A note blows in through his window and lands on his bed. The note is from Alexandria (Catinca Untaru), who is in the hospital recovering from a broken arm, which is in a stiff plaster cast. When Alexandra rushes in to take the note back, Roy tells her she is named after Alexander the Great, one of the greatest warriors of all time, and he begins to tell her a story about him. Alexandria is told she has to leave, but not before Roy promises to tell her an epic tale if she will return the next day.
The next morning, as Roy spins his tale of fantasy, Alexandria's imagination brings his characters to life. Roy's tale is about five heroes: a silent Indian warrior (Jeetu Verma), a muscular ex-slave named Otta Benga (Marcus Wesley), an Italian explosives expert called Luigi (Robin Smith), a surreal version of Darwin
(Leo Bill
) with a pet monkey, and a masked swashbuckling bandit (Pace). An evil ruler named Odious (Daniel Caltagirone) has committed an offense against each of the five, who all seek revenge. The heroes have been stranded on a butterfly-shaped reef with only a distant swim to shore, but the Masked Bandit can't swim. The group is jolted into action when word arrives that Odious will hang the bandit's brother. Darwin spots a swimming elephant on which the bandit rides to shore, where they are joined by a sixth hero, a mystic who emerges from a smoldering tree trunk after it had burst into flames. Alexandria vividly imagines her friends and the people around her appearing as the characters in Roy's story. One of her Sikh friends, who works at the orchard with her family, becomes the scimitar-flashing swordsman; one of Roy's visitors, a professional one-legged stuntman, becomes Luigi (now with two legs); and the ice delivery man becomes Otta. Although Roy develops genuine affection for Alexandria, he also has an ulterior motive: by telling tales and gaining her trust, he tricks her into stealing morphine
from the hospital pharmacy so that he can attempt suicide
. Alexandria, however, misreads Roy’s note and returns with only three pills.
As the line between fact and fantasy blurs, more real-life people begin to populate Roy's fictitious stories and the stories themselves become a collaborative tale to which Alexandria also contributes. A hospital nurse, Evelyn, (Justine Waddell
) becomes the center of a romantic feud between Governor Odious and the masked bandit, who is Roy. Alexandria herself becomes a character in the story: while Roy is the masked bandit, she is his daughter. Roy talks Alexandria into stealing a bottle of Morphine tablets locked in a fellow patient's cabinet. Roy downs the whole bottle. Going to see Roy the next morning, Alexandria sees a sheet covered body in the courtyard outside and thinks that he is dead. Running to Roy's bed she is surprised to find him asleep. After Alexandria awakens Roy, he realizes he is only alive because his neighboring patient is receiving a placebo
. As Roy is restrained after yelling in anger, Alexandria is shuffled away.
Later that evening, Alexandria, desperate to help Roy, sneaks out of bed. In the pharmacy, she climbs onto the cabinet but loses her footing on a pestle, and falls to the floor. After surgery, Alexandria is visited by the bewheeled Roy in the recovery room, where he consoles her and confesses his deception. Now he can imagine only a grim ending to the tale, encouraging Alexandria to ask someone else to tell it, but she, in tears, insists on hearing Roy's ending. Roy reluctantly begins the rest of the story. The heroes die one by one, and it seems that Odious will be triumphant. Alexandria becomes upset, and Roy insists, "It's my story." She declares "Mine too," and in the end is able to exert some influence on the course of the tale. Finally the epic tale the two have been telling comes to an end with only the Bandit and his daughter remaining alive and Odious dying. Next, Roy and Alexandria along with the patients and staff of the hospital watch a viewing of the finished 'flicker' that Roy appeared in. With everyone laughing, only Roy's smile is broken in confusion when he sees that his life-threatening leap has been edited out of the film and that his horse is once again alive as another stuntman jumps from the railroad trestle safely into the saddle.
Some time later, Alexandria’s arm has fully healed and she returns to the orange orchard where her family works. Her voice over reveals that Roy had recovered and was now back at work again. At first Alexandria didn't believe it, but as she talks a montage of cuts from several of silent films' greatest and most dangerous stunts plays. She imagines all the stuntmen to be Roy.
Singh's commentary indicates the film was made over a period of four years and incorporates footage shot in over 20 countries, including India, Indonesia (Bali), Italy, France, Spain, Namibia, China (PRC), and numerous others, a few of which are not listed in the credits. The contemporary South African mental hospital which substitutes as an early 20th century Los Angeles hospital and the principal setting throughout the film remained operational (in a separate wing) during filming, according to the DVD commentaries.
The DVD supplementary features reveal that actor Lee Pace remained in a bed for most of the early filming at the director's suggestion, convincing most of the crew that he was in fact unable to walk. The intention, Tarsem and Pace noted, was to maximize the realism of Roy's physical limitations in the eyes of Catinca Untaru, whose lines and reactions as the character Alexandria were largely unscripted, and so were young Catinca's spontaneous interactions with Pace's character. For example, Alexandria's misinterpreting the letter E as the number 3 in a note written by Roy—came about from an accidental misreading by the 6-year-old actress during filming, which the director then realized he could adapt into a clever twist in the story.
To further the realism of young Catinca's performance, Tarsem had portions of the hospital scenes between Pace and his young costar filmed through small holes in the hospital bed curtains, maximizing the youngster's spontaneous interactions with Pace despite the presence of the film crew surrounding them.
The film's recurring musical theme is the second movement of Beethoven
's 7th Symphony
.
.
. For its theatrical release in 2008, the film was presented by David Fincher
and Spike Jonze
.
reported that 59% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 101 reviews. Metacritic
reported the film had an average score of 64/100, based on 23 reviews. Roger Ebert
gave the film 4/4, and wrote, "You might want to see for no other reason than because it exists. There will never be another like it." Nathan Lee of The New York Times
, however, wrote that the film "is a genuine labor of love — and a real bore."
The film appeared on a couple of critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008. Tasha Robinson of The A.V. Club
named it the best film of 2008, Sean Axmaker of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
named it the 6th best film of 2008, and Roger Ebert
of Chicago Sun-Times
named it among his top 20 films of 2008.
Adventure film
Adventure films are a genre of film.Unlike pure, low-budget action films they often use their action scenes preferably to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way....
fantasy film
Fantasy film
Fantasy films are films with fantastic themes, usually involving magic, supernatural events, make-believe creatures, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered to be distinct from science fiction film and horror film, although the genres do overlap...
directed by Tarsem Singh
Tarsem Singh
Tarsem Dhandwar Singh , known professionally as Tarsem, is an Indian director who has worked on films, music videos, and commercials.- Life and career :...
, starring Lee Pace
Lee Pace
Lee Grinner Pace is an American actor. Pace has been featured in film, stage and television. He is known best for his starring role as Ned in the ABC series Pushing Daisies for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe award and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2008.-...
, Catinca Untaru, and Justine Waddell
Justine Waddell
Justine Waddell is a South African born, British actress. Her roles include playing Estella in the 1999 BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations and her dual role in 2006 feature film The Fall...
. It is based on the screenplay of the 1981 Bulgarian film
Cinema of Bulgaria
-Actors and actresses:*Nikolay Binev*Stoyan Bachvarov*Rusi Chanev*Georgi Cherkelov*Stefan Danailov*Itzhak Fintzi*Georgi Georgiev*Kiril Gospodinov*Stanislav Ianevski*Georgi Kaloyanchev*Velko Kanev*Apostol Karamitev*Nevena Kokanova*Todor Kolev...
Yo Ho Ho by Valeri Petrov
Valeri Petrov
Valeri Petrov , pseudonym of Valeri Nisim Mevorah is a popular Bulgarian poet, screenplay writer, playwright and translator of paternal Jewish origin....
. The film earned $3.2 million worldwide. The film was released to theaters in 2008. It should not be confused with another 2008 release of the same title, a legal drama by John Krueger.
Plot
In 1920s Los Angeles, stuntmanStunt performer
A stuntman, or daredevil is someone who performs dangerous stunts, often as a career.These stunts are sometimes rigged so that they look dangerous while still having safety mechanisms, but often they are as dangerous as they appear to be...
Roy Walker (Lee Pace
Lee Pace
Lee Grinner Pace is an American actor. Pace has been featured in film, stage and television. He is known best for his starring role as Ned in the ABC series Pushing Daisies for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe award and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2008.-...
) is in a hospital, bedridden and possibly paralyzed after a jump he took in his first film. A note blows in through his window and lands on his bed. The note is from Alexandria (Catinca Untaru), who is in the hospital recovering from a broken arm, which is in a stiff plaster cast. When Alexandra rushes in to take the note back, Roy tells her she is named after Alexander the Great, one of the greatest warriors of all time, and he begins to tell her a story about him. Alexandria is told she has to leave, but not before Roy promises to tell her an epic tale if she will return the next day.
The next morning, as Roy spins his tale of fantasy, Alexandria's imagination brings his characters to life. Roy's tale is about five heroes: a silent Indian warrior (Jeetu Verma), a muscular ex-slave named Otta Benga (Marcus Wesley), an Italian explosives expert called Luigi (Robin Smith), a surreal version of Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
(Leo Bill
Leo Bill
Leo Bill is an English actor, best known for his role as James Brocklebank in 2006 film The Living and the Dead. He is son of the actress Sheila Kelley.-Filmography:-Theatre:...
) with a pet monkey, and a masked swashbuckling bandit (Pace). An evil ruler named Odious (Daniel Caltagirone) has committed an offense against each of the five, who all seek revenge. The heroes have been stranded on a butterfly-shaped reef with only a distant swim to shore, but the Masked Bandit can't swim. The group is jolted into action when word arrives that Odious will hang the bandit's brother. Darwin spots a swimming elephant on which the bandit rides to shore, where they are joined by a sixth hero, a mystic who emerges from a smoldering tree trunk after it had burst into flames. Alexandria vividly imagines her friends and the people around her appearing as the characters in Roy's story. One of her Sikh friends, who works at the orchard with her family, becomes the scimitar-flashing swordsman; one of Roy's visitors, a professional one-legged stuntman, becomes Luigi (now with two legs); and the ice delivery man becomes Otta. Although Roy develops genuine affection for Alexandria, he also has an ulterior motive: by telling tales and gaining her trust, he tricks her into stealing morphine
Morphine
Morphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...
from the hospital pharmacy so that he can attempt suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. Alexandria, however, misreads Roy’s note and returns with only three pills.
As the line between fact and fantasy blurs, more real-life people begin to populate Roy's fictitious stories and the stories themselves become a collaborative tale to which Alexandria also contributes. A hospital nurse, Evelyn, (Justine Waddell
Justine Waddell
Justine Waddell is a South African born, British actress. Her roles include playing Estella in the 1999 BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations and her dual role in 2006 feature film The Fall...
) becomes the center of a romantic feud between Governor Odious and the masked bandit, who is Roy. Alexandria herself becomes a character in the story: while Roy is the masked bandit, she is his daughter. Roy talks Alexandria into stealing a bottle of Morphine tablets locked in a fellow patient's cabinet. Roy downs the whole bottle. Going to see Roy the next morning, Alexandria sees a sheet covered body in the courtyard outside and thinks that he is dead. Running to Roy's bed she is surprised to find him asleep. After Alexandria awakens Roy, he realizes he is only alive because his neighboring patient is receiving a placebo
Placebo
A placebo is a simulated or otherwise medically ineffectual treatment for a disease or other medical condition intended to deceive the recipient...
. As Roy is restrained after yelling in anger, Alexandria is shuffled away.
Later that evening, Alexandria, desperate to help Roy, sneaks out of bed. In the pharmacy, she climbs onto the cabinet but loses her footing on a pestle, and falls to the floor. After surgery, Alexandria is visited by the bewheeled Roy in the recovery room, where he consoles her and confesses his deception. Now he can imagine only a grim ending to the tale, encouraging Alexandria to ask someone else to tell it, but she, in tears, insists on hearing Roy's ending. Roy reluctantly begins the rest of the story. The heroes die one by one, and it seems that Odious will be triumphant. Alexandria becomes upset, and Roy insists, "It's my story." She declares "Mine too," and in the end is able to exert some influence on the course of the tale. Finally the epic tale the two have been telling comes to an end with only the Bandit and his daughter remaining alive and Odious dying. Next, Roy and Alexandria along with the patients and staff of the hospital watch a viewing of the finished 'flicker' that Roy appeared in. With everyone laughing, only Roy's smile is broken in confusion when he sees that his life-threatening leap has been edited out of the film and that his horse is once again alive as another stuntman jumps from the railroad trestle safely into the saddle.
Some time later, Alexandria’s arm has fully healed and she returns to the orange orchard where her family works. Her voice over reveals that Roy had recovered and was now back at work again. At first Alexandria didn't believe it, but as she talks a montage of cuts from several of silent films' greatest and most dangerous stunts plays. She imagines all the stuntmen to be Roy.
Cast
- Lee PaceLee PaceLee Grinner Pace is an American actor. Pace has been featured in film, stage and television. He is known best for his starring role as Ned in the ABC series Pushing Daisies for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe award and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2008.-...
as Roy Walker / Black Bandit - Catinca Untaru as Alexandria / Bandit's daughter
- Justine WaddellJustine WaddellJustine Waddell is a South African born, British actress. Her roles include playing Estella in the 1999 BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations and her dual role in 2006 feature film The Fall...
as Nurse Evelyn / Sister Evelyn - Daniel Caltagirone as Sinclair / Governor Odious
- Marcus Wesley as Ice delivery man / Otta Benga
- Robin Smith as One-legged actor / Luigi
- Jeetu Verma as Orange picker / Indian
- Kim Uylenbroek as Doctor / Alexander the Great
- Leo BillLeo BillLeo Bill is an English actor, best known for his role as James Brocklebank in 2006 film The Living and the Dead. He is son of the actress Sheila Kelley.-Filmography:-Theatre:...
as Orderly / Charles DarwinCharles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory... - Emil HostinaEmil Hostina-Filmography:*1993 Pro patria as Caporalul*1993 Cântarea cântărilor*1994 Pepi si Fifi as Manole*1996 Prea târziu*2003 Vlad as Mircea*2006 The Fall as Alexandria's Father/Bandit*2006 The Wind in the Willows...
as Alexandria's father / Bandit - Julian BleachJulian BleachJulian Bleach is an English actor who is best known as co-creator and "M. C." of Shockheaded Peter, a musical entertainment based on the works of Heinrich Hoffmann, which won the 2002 Olivier Award for Best Entertainment.Bleach trained at LAMDA...
as Elderly patient / Mystic
Production
According to the director's remarks on the DVD release of the film, Tarsem Singh largely financed the film with his own funds, determined to make the film according to his own vision, and paid members of the cast and crew on an equal basis rather than in more typical Hollywood fashion.Singh's commentary indicates the film was made over a period of four years and incorporates footage shot in over 20 countries, including India, Indonesia (Bali), Italy, France, Spain, Namibia, China (PRC), and numerous others, a few of which are not listed in the credits. The contemporary South African mental hospital which substitutes as an early 20th century Los Angeles hospital and the principal setting throughout the film remained operational (in a separate wing) during filming, according to the DVD commentaries.
The DVD supplementary features reveal that actor Lee Pace remained in a bed for most of the early filming at the director's suggestion, convincing most of the crew that he was in fact unable to walk. The intention, Tarsem and Pace noted, was to maximize the realism of Roy's physical limitations in the eyes of Catinca Untaru, whose lines and reactions as the character Alexandria were largely unscripted, and so were young Catinca's spontaneous interactions with Pace's character. For example, Alexandria's misinterpreting the letter E as the number 3 in a note written by Roy—came about from an accidental misreading by the 6-year-old actress during filming, which the director then realized he could adapt into a clever twist in the story.
To further the realism of young Catinca's performance, Tarsem had portions of the hospital scenes between Pace and his young costar filmed through small holes in the hospital bed curtains, maximizing the youngster's spontaneous interactions with Pace despite the presence of the film crew surrounding them.
The film's recurring musical theme is the second movement of Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's 7th Symphony
Symphony No. 7 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92, in 1811, was the seventh of his nine symphonies. He worked on it while staying in the Bohemian spa town of Teplice in the hope of improving his health. It was completed in 1812, and was dedicated to Count Moritz von Fries.At its debut,...
.
Filming locations
- Valkenberg HospitalValkenberg HospitalThe Valkenberg Hospital is a large, government-funded, tertiary psychiatric hospital in the city of Cape Town, South Africa.It is situated in the suburb of Observatory between the banks of the Liesbeeck and Black Rivers, overlooking Devil's Peak in the distance...
in Cape TownCape TownCape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, South AfricaSouth AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans... - Dead VleiDead VleiDeadvlei is a white clay pan located near the more famous salt pan of Sossusvlei, inside the Namib-Naukluft Park in Namibia. Also written DeadVlei or Dead Vlei, its name means "dead marsh"...
from the SossusvleiSossusvleiSossusvlei is a salt and clay pan surrounded by high red dunes, located in the southern part of the Namib Desert, in the Namib-Naukluft National Park of Namibia...
dune in Namib-Naukluft National Park in NamibiaNamibiaNamibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March... - The labyrinth Jantar Mantar in JaipurJantar Mantar (Jaipur)The Jantar Mantar is a collection of architectural astronomical instruments, built by Maharaja Jai Singh II at his then new capital of Jaipur between 1727 and 1734. It is modeled after the one that he had built for him at the Mughal capital of Delhi. He had constructed a total of five such...
- Lake Palace Hotel in UdaipurUdaipurUdaipur , also known as the City of Lakes, is a city, a Municipal Council and the administrative headquarters of the Udaipur district in the state of Rajasthan in western India. It is located southwest of the state capital, Jaipur, west of Kota, and northeast from Ahmedabad...
, IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world... - Charles BridgeCharles BridgeThe Charles Bridge is a famous historic bridge that crosses the Vltava river in Prague, Czech Republic. Its construction started in 1357 under the auspices of King Charles IV, and finished in the beginning of the 15th century...
in PraguePraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Czech RepublicCzech RepublicThe Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest.... - Butterfly reef, FijiFijiFiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
- SumatraSumatraSumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
Island - Andaman IslandsAndaman IslandsThe Andaman Islands are a group of Indian Ocean archipelagic islands in the Bay of Bengal between India to the west, and Burma , to the north and east...
of IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world... - Pangong Lake in LadakhLadakhLadakh is a region of Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state of the Republic of India. It lies between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent...
, India - Buland DarwazaBuland DarwazaBuland Darwaza , meaning 'high' or 'great' gate in Persian, is the largest of gateways in the world. It is located in Fatehpur Sikri which is located 43 km away from Agra, India. It is also known as the "Gate of Magnificence".Buland Darwaza or the loft gateway was built by the great Mughal...
in the palace complex of Fatehpur SikriFatehpur SikriFatehpur Sikri is a city and a municipal board in Agra district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Built near the much older Sikri, the historical city of Fatehabad, as it was first named, was constructed by Mughal emperor Akbar beginning in 1570...
, Uttar PradeshUttar PradeshUttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
, IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world... - AgraAgraAgra a.k.a. Akbarabad is a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, west of state capital, Lucknow and south from national capital New Delhi. With a population of 1,686,976 , it is one of the most populous cities in Uttar Pradesh and the 19th most...
- Magnetic HillMagnetic Hill (India)Magnetic Hill is a gravity hill located near Leh in Ladakh, India. The hill is alleged to have magnetic properties strong enough to pull cars uphill and force passing aircraft to increase their altitude in order to escape magnetic interference...
in Ladakh, India - Moonscape near LamayuruLamayuruLamayuru or Yuru Gompa is a Tibetan Buddhist Gompa in Kargil District, Western Ladakh, situated on the Srinagar - Kargil - Leh road 15 km east of the Fotu La, at a height of 3,510 m.-History:A. H...
in Ladakh, India - BaliBaliBali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...
- Chand BaoriChand BaoriChand Baori is a famous stepwell situated in the village of Abhaneri near Jaipur in the Indian state of Rajasthan.This step well is located opposite Harshat Mata Temple, constructed in 800 c. and is one of the deepest and largest step wells in India...
, a large stepwellStepwellStepwells, also called bawdi or baoli , or vaav are wells or ponds in which the water can be reached by descending a set of steps. They may be covered and protected, and are often of architectural significance...
in Abhaneri village in the Indian state of RajasthanRajasthanRājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with... - JodhpurJodhpurJodhpur , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is located west from the state capital, Jaipur and from the city of Ajmer. It was formerly the seat of a princely state of the same name, the capital of the kingdom known as Marwar...
, the Blue City in Rajastan - Umaid Bhawan Palace Lobby, Jodhpur, Rajastan
- Taj MahalTaj MahalThe Taj Mahal is a white Marble mausoleum located in Agra, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal...
, India - Capitoline Hill, ColosseumColosseumThe Colosseum, or the Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre , is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire...
, Roma, Italy - Hadrian's VillaHadrian's VillaThe Hadrian's Villa is a large Roman archaeological complex at Tivoli, Italy.- History :The villa was constructed at Tibur as a retreat from Rome for Roman Emperor Hadrian during the second and third decades of the 2nd century AD...
, Tivoli, Italy - Hagia SophiaHagia SophiaHagia Sophia is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey...
, Istanbul, Turkey - First Statue of LibertyStatue of LibertyThe Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...
at Jardin du LuxembourgJardin du LuxembourgThe Jardin du Luxembourg, or the Luxembourg Gardens, is the second largest public park in Paris The Jardin du Luxembourg, or the Luxembourg Gardens, is the second largest public park in Paris The Jardin du Luxembourg, or the Luxembourg Gardens, is the second largest public park in Paris (224,500 m²...
in ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Music
The film opens with the 2nd movement allegretto of Beethoven's 7th symphonySymphony No. 7 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92, in 1811, was the seventh of his nine symphonies. He worked on it while staying in the Bohemian spa town of Teplice in the hope of improving his health. It was completed in 1812, and was dedicated to Count Moritz von Fries.At its debut,...
.
Release
The Fall premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival2006 Toronto International Film Festival
The 2006 Toronto International Film Festival ran from September 7 to September 16, 2006. Opening the festival was Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn's The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, a film that "explores the history of the Inuit people through the eyes of a father and daughter."In a press release...
. For its theatrical release in 2008, the film was presented by David Fincher
David Fincher
David Andrew Leo Fincher is an American film and music video director. Known for his dark and stylish thrillers, such as Seven , The Game , Fight Club , Panic Room , and Zodiac , Fincher received Academy Award nominations for Best Director for his 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and...
and Spike Jonze
Spike Jonze
Spike Jonze is an American director, producer and actor, whose work includes music videos, commercials, film and television...
.
Critical reception
The film received generally mixed to positive reviews from critics; review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 59% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 101 reviews. Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
reported the film had an average score of 64/100, based on 23 reviews. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
gave the film 4/4, and wrote, "You might want to see for no other reason than because it exists. There will never be another like it." Nathan Lee of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, however, wrote that the film "is a genuine labor of love — and a real bore."
The film appeared on a couple of critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008. Tasha Robinson of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
named it the best film of 2008, Sean Axmaker of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area...
named it the 6th best film of 2008, and Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
named it among his top 20 films of 2008.