The Falling

The Falling is the new film from British director Carol Morley. Set in a seemingly archetypal English girls’ school in 1969, it concerns two friends who find themselves at the centre of an outbreak of fainting and hysteria amongst a number of the pupils.

First of all it is important to note that the performances are generally very good. Maisie Williams, of Game of Thrones fame, provides an admirably spirited turn as the protagonist Lydia, while newcomer Florence Pugh is remarkably precocious as her errant companion Abbie. The teachers are suitably stern and austere, while Maxine Peake brings her usual striking presence to the screen as Lydia’s troubled mother.

It is however the domestic drama segments which I feel let the film down. The film is at its best when it focuses on the hysteria and the surrounding consternation at the school, at these points it is pleasingly unsettling and adopts a psycho-horror guise that is aided by a terrific soundtrack. When Morley tries to introduce other strands such as the predilections and occult obsessions of Lydia’s sinister brother, it begins to feel clumsy and ill-conceived. Maxine Peake does her best to bring some nuance to the emotionally fraught, agoraphobic, Eileen who is tragically disconnected from her children, but there isn’t a great deal in the script for her to work with.

The problem is there is not enough in the central conceit to sustain a 102 minute film and the various subplots subtract, rather than augment the film’s effectiveness. It consequently feels a bit aimless, Morley has spoken of the importance of the film’s setting in the epochal year of 1969, yet this is never conveyed in any meaningful way. Having said this, fans of traditional English school dramas, and even fans of horror will find enjoyment in this effort.