An astonishing tapestry that’s comedic, alarming and poetic by turns. THE FALLS (1980) was the first feature by England’s Peter Greenaway, who went for broke in a panoramic 194 minute epic that remains sui generis; quite simply, there’s been nothing else like it before or since.
The subject is something called the Violent Unknown Event, or VUE, which appears to have involved birds and resulted in its survivors experiencing water dreams, physical mutations and an all-consuming interest in ornithology. THE FALLS takes the form of an investigation of 92 VUE affected individuals—among them twin brothers (Stephen and Timothy Quay, a.k.a. the Brothers Quay) that forecast Greenaway’s 1985 feature A ZED AND TWO NOUGHTS—whose last names all begin with the letters F-A-L-L. The symbolic reference, taking into account the obsession with flight and water, is to the fall of Icarus (as visualized by the Peter Bruegel painting of that title), and by extension the fall of man, while the number 92 has a personal significance for Greenaway. He actually made plans (since abandoned) to turn out 92 works of art relating to an imaginary personage named Tulse-Luper, who’s referenced quite often in THE FALLS.
Tulse-Luper, it seems, is part of a VUE Commission, which has ostensibly put together this film. It consists of mini-bios, narrated by phlegmatic BBC-style narrators whose faces we never see. The individuals they speak of, bearing names like Casternarn Fallast, Max Fallcaster and Armeror Fallstag, are likewise rarely seen, with their homes, located in various far-flung British locales, getting the lions’ share of the footage. We also see a bathtub filled with water, stills of Tippi Hedren from THE BIRDS (a film that has a more-than-passing significance to VUE survivors), close-ups of dead birds, a televised bird name questionnaire and other arcane but significant ephemera, all of it gorgeously framed and lit.
Greenaway’s previous film experience included work as an editor for the UK’s Central Office of Information and the direction of around half a dozen short films. Evident in those shorts was a love of numerology and natural history, both of which found their way into THE FALLS (and Greenaway’s subsequent filmogrpahy).
Another important component is the minimalist score by Michael Nyman, in one of his earliest Greenaway collaborations (there would be several more). Nyman’s music is cheerful and up-tempo, and so adds an ironic detachment to an already distant tone. Hence we have an annoyance that would come to define Greenaway’s filmography: the complete lack of any emotional connection, making for an aesthetically pleasing piece of imaginative fancy that’s quite a chore to sit through. Greenaway himself has suggested THE FALLS be viewed in portions rather than straight through, and he’s right. It should be viewed, though.
Vital Statistics
THE FALLS
British Film Institute
Director/Screenwriter/Editor: Peter Greenaway
Cinematography: Mike Coles, John Rosenberg
Cast: Peter Westley, Michael Murray, Adam Leys, Sheila Canfield, Hilary Thompson, Monica Hyde, Keith Pendlebury, Stephen Quay, Timothy Quay, Martin Burrows, Adejbo Nkasaggi, Serena MacBeth, John Wilson, Rod Stoneman, Chris Rodriguez, Kenneth Breese, Lucy Skeaping, Herbert Mullinger, Christine Metcalfe, Lilian Mullinger, Bob Godfrey, Alderich Asonbryl, John W. Hyde, Christopher Williams, J.J. Czipri, Tony Sloman, Colin Cantile