In 1969, Lydia and Abbie are best friends at an English girls' school. Lydia, the neglected daughter of an agoraphobic mother, becomes fixated on Abbie, who has begun to explore her sexuality. After having sex with Lydia's brother Kenneth in an attempt to abort her pregnancy by another boy, Abbie begins to suffer from fainting spells. She faints and goes into convulsions after a stint in detention with Lydia and dies in the process. Following Abbie's burial, Lydia begins suffering as well from fainting spells, and it soon becomes an epidemic, with numerous girls and a young teacher in the school spontaneously passing out for no more than a few seconds. Lydia becomes convinced that the administration must take action, much to the chagrin of the school principal. When an assembly becomes disrupted by a mass fainting episode, the school is temporarily shut down and all affected students are hospitalized and psychoanalysed. When no cause for the spells is discovered, the school is reopened and Lydia is expelled. That same night, the virginal Lydia has sex with Kenneth, with whom she has developed an incestuous relationship after Abbie's death. However their mother Eileen catches them and, armed with a pair of scissors, angrily forces Kenneth out of the house before launching into an argument with her daughter, in which she brands Lydia dangerous and that she ought to be locked up. Eileen also reveals that Lydia and Kenneth are only half-siblings; Lydia being the product of a rape. Upon learning this, Lydia runs out of the house and Eileen follows her outside, despite having never ventured outside in over 16 years. Searching for Lydia, Eileen is overcome with flashbacks of her own sexual assault, and eventually locates Lydia; who has climbed to the top of a tree in a breakdown over Abbie's death. Eileen pleads with Lydia to come down, but she laughs, challenging her mother's lack of maternal affection, before losing her footing and leaping from the tree into a lake. Distraught, Eileen ventures into the water and cradles Lydia's seemingly drowned body, realizing that her emotional frigidity had done more harm to her daughter than she knew. Lydia regains consciousness, and the film ends with the two women in a crying embrace.
BFI funded the film £750K. Production began in October 2013. The soundtrack is by Tracey Thorn. Morley asked Thorn to provide the music for the film after editing had begun.
Release
The Falling premiered at the BFI London Film Festival on 11 October 2014. It had a limited release in the United Kingdom, grossing £442,177 with a further £10,051 grossed in New Zealand. US DVD sales amounted to another £6,406.
Reception
, a review aggregator, reports that 72% of 36 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 6.8/10. Mark Adams of Screen International wrote, "It is a film that will resonate with some but leave others exasperated, but The Falling is certainly a bold film, and one to be admired and appreciated." Guy Lodge of Variety called it "an imperfect but alluring study of psychological contagion that marks an auspicious advance in the field of narrative filmmaking for acclaimed documaker Carol Morley". Leslie Felperin of The Hollywood Reporter called it "a flawed but fascinating period study of female friendship and hysteria". Trevor Johnston of Time Out London rated it 4/5 stars and wrote, "Carol Morley shows startling versatility and ambition with this jawdropping mash-up of If and Picnic at Hanging Rock". Mike McCahill of The Daily Telegraph rated it 4/5 stars and called it a continuation of the themes in Nicolas Roeg's Performance and Don't Look Now. Geoffrey Macnab of The Independent rated it 4/5 stars and wrote, "Carol Morley's The Falling is beguiling and disturbing, a beautifully made and very subtle affair that combines melodrama, rites of passage and supernatural elements in an utterly intriguing way." Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian rated it 5/5 stars and wrote, "Director Carol Morley has come up with another brilliant and very distinctive feature, about an epidemic of fainting that grips a girls school in the 1960s." Elise Nakhnikian of Slant Magazine gave a less favourable review, writing that "the film all leads to a melodramatic climax that wraps up the main character's explosive acting out in a too-neat package." David Jenkins of Little White Lies also gave an unfavourable review, writing, "Carol Morley follows up the mesmerising Dreams of a Life with a tedious period drama set in an all-girls school."
