Sound of Falling

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Miloslav C @Milovkino Dec 1 The film shows us several generations of women who grew up in the same house but in different eras. It begins in the 1910s — and in a rather grim fashion, almost like American caricatures of European cinema. In sepia tones, in a large gloomy house, a little blonde girl grows up surrounded by her siblings. From time to time someone dies of illness or despair. One day, in a photograph — in that same cursed sepia — she notices a girl who looks exactly like herself. She’s told that she once had a sister like that, but she died in her sleep. After this, the girl can’t fall asleep for months — she’s terrified the same thing will happen to her. The film is largely about death, but even more about a life that resembles death. What separates the girl from the one in the photo? What separates the living from the dead? The line is incredibly thin: one moment you’re breathing, and the next you’re not. Flies gather on both just the same. What distinguishes the living from the dead? A heartbeat? Breath? Movement? Feeling? But what if you feel anything except what you want to feel? The heroines of the "first generation" have hardly the luxury of feeling what they wish — their desires matter to no one. So can that even be called life? And it’s not just about women — the young uncle of the protagonist is in a similar situation: older relatives cut off his leg so he wouldn’t be taken to war. He didn’t want to lose his leg, but no one asked him. If the state claimed him, the family reasoned, then better he belong to them. The one-legged young man is put on the same footing as the women — now he too is forever chained to the home and the family, until death parts them. But is that life? Time passes, sepia gives way to color — though still a mottled, uneven one. The lives of the women change little by little as well. Their behavior does too. Strange impulses appear, things not accounted for by the rules. A woman suddenly hurts herself for no clear reason; another suddenly offers her body to a married uncle she doesn’t even particularly like — the men are puzzled: what’s gotten into these women? They’re acting crazy! But when you look closer, you begin to understand what director Masha Shilinski is trying to show. The "irrational" actions of her heroines are their rebellion — their struggle for the right to control their own bodies. Even if it hurts — at least it’s by their own will. To feel what you yourself choose — that, in her view, is what life truly is. And yes, there is more and more color in the film, just as there is more freedom for the women, and the difference between life and death becomes ever clearer. The final point — though perhaps not the final conclusion — can be seen as the story of the director herself, who releases a film about women, their lives and deaths, and now aims for high honors. See more Xenia T Nov 14 2:30hr shitload under the name of creativity. Disgusting movie. See more Read all reviews