Prior to the awards being given out, no other film garnered as much high praise at the Cannes Film Festival this year than director Mascha Schilinski’s sophomore feature “Sound of Falling”. So huge was the buzz, that it truly seemed like the film in question was more than extraordinary, with words like “masterpiece”, and “grander than cinema itself” conjuring images in my mind of a film that was so good, that it would be impossible not to impress its viewer. This praise initially shocked me because I was not a fan of Schilinski's debut feature “Dark Blue Girl” at all. Whilst I thought that the film was beautifully shot, the whole thing left me feeling cold, and as such I didn't have much interest in what Mascha Schilinski was going to do next. However, the huge praise “Sound of Falling” received made me change my mind, as did the stills from the film released for marketing purposes, which looked stunning. Not only was I now going to see the film, I also had an expectation of it being something really special.
When I work out my MIFF schedule each year, I do so in a way that after I have crammed through the guide multiple times and studied it to work out what I want to see, once I have finalised everything and actually booked all my tickets, I put aside the MIFF guide and not look at it again so I do not become overly familiar with the films I am planning to see, so that I can go into each one as fresh as possible, and without any preconceived notions about the plot or story. Over the years this has worked well for me, but I regretted not freshening myself with the plot details of “Sound of Falling” before my session, as it would've made it so much easier for me to understand more quickly. The way Mascha Schilinski begins her story is through images that border on the abstract because we have no feeling of the time or place they come from. The constant shifting of timelines and between characters that we are following had me questioning just what exactly was going on in the film, so much so that I seriously considered asking the stranger next to me if she had any idea of what was happening. Initially I felt totally lost by “Sound of Falling”, and I clearly wasn't the only one, as we had a significant number of people walk out of the cinema, as they struggled to unlock the film, just like myself. If I had only read the description in the MIFF guide prior to my screening where it explains that it takes place over four timelines, at the same farmhouse in Germany, this would have helped enormously in my understanding and enjoyment of the film in it's opening hour. As the film goes on, and the images start to make more sense, I was able to work out what was explained in the guide, but was frustrated by the fact that I struggled so much with “Sound of Falling” during the first hour.
The way director Mascha Schilinski tells her story is via a non-linear narrative and through the use of fragmented and fractured images. As I have said, early on, it is very confusing but makes more sense the longer the film goes on and we become familiar with the characters from each time line. Going against a traditional narrative, Schilinski also uses a number of images, words, lines of dialogue and experiences that are mirrored in each time line to serve as a type of connecting tissue. Constant references to flies, dreams of suicide, swimming in the lake, trauma and death, and a very strange use of the word “warm”, all seem to feature in multiple timelines but their importance and meaning within the story sometimes remains a mystery. The history of Germany over the different time periods is always in the background too with key events being alluded to in the film including two world wars, and the building and destroying of the Berlin Wall that separated East and West Germany. I do not think you need to be an expert in German history, as these events don't really play any significance in regards to the family's story (with the exception of one of the wars), but it adds to the flavour of the world explored in “Sound of Falling”. Speaking of sound, Schilinski often uses the sound design to create a sensory feeling for the audience while also alluding to the world outside of the frame of the movie. At numerous times in “Sound of Falling” characters either look off camera at something we, the audience, cannot see, or will look directly at the camera as if staring at us, and during these moments strange sounds like wind or rain are amped up, highlighting that something significant is happening within the characters.
During the whole confusion of the opening hour of “Sound of Falling”, what kept my attention on the film was Fabian Gamper's seriously gorgeous cinematography and the complex camera moves involved in the film. I cannot stress enough just how beautiful the images in “Sound of Falling” actually are. Gamper shot the film in the square Academy ratio with the majority of his images bathed in brown, yellow or sepia colours, which automatically gives the film a vintage or nostalgic feel to it. There is also a lot of voyeuristic angles or shots in the film, with characters looking through keyholes, cracks in the wall, through curtains or hiding behind furniture, to witness things they probably shouldn't be seeing. Whilst the imagery is quite different in its look, I was regularly reminded of Terrence Malick's “Tree of Life” while watching “Sound of Falling”; one of my all-time favourite films, that also has a very fractured narrative and stunning images.
Over the four timelines, one thing that seems to be a constant for the women living at the farmhouse is the presence of abuse, trauma and death. Thinking back on the film, after the fact, “Sound of Falling” really isn't a fun film due to how sad most of the women are in it. Most of the time the girls actually hide just how much pain they are really in, which explains the suicidal fantasies I mentioned earlier on. At least two of the girls actually follow through with their suicide, one of them (perhaps paradoxically) leading to one of the film's most beautiful images, when the family of the dead girl all pose with her corpse to take a “death” photo. It is hard to believe now that this is something family's used to once do, with the preparation and process of sewing the dead girl's eyes open for the photo feeling particularly macabre, but again, it results in a stunning image within the film. Whilst “Sound of Falling” heavily focuses on the traumas of the women of the family, the men do not get off entirely Scott-free as one of the sons has his leg severely and deliberately broken by his parents, so that it will have to be amputated, to protect him from having to go to war. Due to the fractured nature of “Sound of Falling”, I was actually stunned when this scene took place, and I couldn't believe that I saw what I saw (did they really amputate their son's leg so he could avoid taking part of WWII???).
As you may be able to tell from my rather fractured review (mirroring the fractured narrative of the film perhaps?), watching “Sound of Falling” was a frustrating experience, but one of the most frustrating things of all was when I started to get a handle on the material, and storylines and characters, and could finally see that Mascha Schilinski had indeed created something special with her film, “Sound of Falling” ended (in one of the most gorgeous shots of the entire film, I must say too). I couldn't believe it, just as I was really enjoying the film, it was over, making me want to go back and re-watch it, with all the information I now had at my disposal to decipher it all. The problem with that was I know that it will be a very long time before I get a chance to watch “Sound of Falling” again, and judge its worth properly.
Overall, I think that Mascha Schilinski has created something special with “Sound of Falling”, but due to the way she has told her story, I was not able to unlock its true worth in a single viewing. Some films you may have a somewhat negative experience watching them on your initial watch, but the film gnaws at the back of your head, telling you that you were the reason you didn't understand it, and that it wasn't the film's fault. This is how I feel with “Sound of Falling”, and I am dying to revisit the film soon, because like so many reviews for it have claimed, it feels like something really special is going on in this very fragmented, non-linear narrative. The film is quite depressing as it highlights the cycles of abuse against the history of Germany that keeps repeating itself. It focuses heavily on death, more than the beauty of life, and this heaviness of themes may result in turning off a number of viewers. That said, as dark as the tale being told is, its images are just gorgeous and a wonder to behold. “Sound of Falling” is a seriously good looking film. Again, I know that I haven't been fair to “Sound of Falling”, because during my experience of watching it, I was unable to decode it quick enough to fully appreciate it, but when I did I could tell that the film was much better than I initially thought. I am really looking forward to my next watch of it, so I can evaluate it properly, but sadly after my first watch, I found “Sound of Falling” to be a difficult watch.
3 Stars.
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