The Falls: Peter Greenaway (dir) a jpoc movie review

The worlds most boring film? You decide.

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My Rating

One out of ten.

The best way to watch this film is with your tv turned off. A blank screen is no less interesting and it saves on electricity.

My review

This is one of only two films that I have ever failed to see to the end at the cinema. The other was Eraserhead which was just too sick for me to put up with. I was watching that film with my ex-wife and I can remember the moment well. We both stood up and walked out at exactly the same instant. We didn't ask each other about leaving we just both knew that the other was about to get up and go so we did. Anyway, I saw The Falls with her too at the same cinema. (The then North Staffs Poly film theatre in Stoke-on-Trent in England.) They showed The Falls with an interval it was a long film. The audience started off small and all but six people (three couples) had walked out before the interval. At the interval, one couple left the building and headed for the car park. The four people that were left went to the bar. We didn't know the other couple and we didn't sit near them. But, like us, when the end-of-interval bell was sounded they stayed in the bar and had another drink.

But what about the film? Well, the scenario is that a violent unexplained event (VUE) has occured which has affected the lives of many people. The film takes the form of a series of short interviews with subjects whose surnames begin with the letters FALL. Each interview lasts for a couple of minutes. Each interviewee talks about their feelings after the VUE. None of the interviews is particularly interesting. A few are mildly amusing but no more than that. The film has no pace and there is no feeling of progression except that the names of the interviewees moves on in alphabetic order.

The most interesting part of the movie is the title sequence at the beginning.