Dreadful Penny

On Sunday, we rode our bikes down to the Main Art Theatre to see The Fall. It’s a self-indulgent, gorgeous, odd, charming film that has (unsurprisingly) received mixed reviews. I’m still not certain what to feel about it.

The plot: In a hospital circa 1915, an injured, suicidal stunt man befriends a young Romanian girl with a broken arm. He weaves a fairy tale to manipulate her into fetching him drugs. The tale is told in his voice, but seen through her imagination, filled with people and objects she knows. See also: The Wizard of Oz, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Pan’s Labyrinth

Lee Pace, who I really enjoy as the pie man on Pushing Daisies, does a fair job as stunt man Roy. It’s hard to care about him, which is a significant failing in the picture. The rest of the supporting cast is fine. However, there is a clear star in Catinca Untaru. She’s amazing. There are scenes where she is so genuine and subtle that it’s hard to believe she isn’t really Alexandria, a migrant orange-picker. Meryl Streep couldn’t be as credible. I’d watch the movie again just to be delighted by her performance.

Not that there’s a shortage of delights. The visuals are astounding, even moreso because of the lack of CGI in the movie. Apparently it was filmed on 9 continents in 358 countries, or something like that. My mouth pulled into an open smile during the very first scene, in black and white so crisp as to appear three-dimensional. When there is color, it is saturated. When there is action, it’s defined and intentional.

I wanted to love this movie and I believe it could have been magnificent. It isn’t. It’s interesting and pretty. However, we’re not given enough background to understand Roy’s attachment to his lost love and therefore his depression seems frivolous. I didn’t care if he lived or died, except for the effect it would have on Alexandria. Perhaps that was supposed to be enough. The plot of the fairy tale is ludicrous; which is reasonable, considering that it’s supposed to be an improvised story, but the emotion and urgency of that secondary story is trampled over by the confused narrative. (One exception: when the Mystic is injured and his tribe chant and dance, giving directions to the fortress of Governor Odious. That scene was intense and the lead chanter/dancer was as committed to his role as anyone I’ve ever seen.)

I’m glad I went to see the film and I hope to see it again on cable someday, but my feelings are still mixed. As Roger Ebert said in his review, this is a movie “that you might want to see for no other reason than because it exists”.