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The Fall (2006)

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Top Critics

Average Rating: 6.2/10
Reviews Counted: 105
Fresh: 62 | Rotten: 43

More visually elaborate than the fragmented story can sometimes support, The Fall walks the line between labor of love and filmmaker self-indulgence.

Average Rating: 5.6/10
Critic Reviews: 24
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 14

More visually elaborate than the fragmented story can sometimes support, The Fall walks the line between labor of love and filmmaker self-indulgence.

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Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 98,521

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Movie Info

Visually minded filmmaker Tarsem Singh returns to the director's chair for the first time since The Cell (2000) with this psychologically complex tale of a hospitalized paraplegic with a curious knack for storytelling. Unable to free himself from his sterile confines, the immobile patient's deepest fears form the basis of a dark story that he shares with his young companion -- a little girl who visits his room as she recovers from a nasty fall. As the eerie tale unfolds, reality and fantasy

R, 1 hr. 57 min.

Drama, Action & Adventure, Art House & International, Science Fiction & Fantasy

Directed By: Tarsem Singh

In Theaters: Sep 9, 2006 Wide

On DVD: Sep 9, 2008

Box Office:$2.1M

Roadside Attractions

The Fall Trailer & Photos

More Photos (31)

Cast

Lee Pace
Roy Walker
Catinca Untaru
Alexandria
Justine Waddell
Nurse Evelyn/Princess E...
Robin Smith
Luigi/One-Legged Actor
Julian Bleach
Mystic/Orange Picker
Jeetu Verma
Indian/Orange Picker
Leo Bill
Charles Darwin/Orderly
Marcus Wesley
Otta Benga/Ice Delivery...
Kim Uylenbroek
Doctor/Alexander the Gr...
Andrew Roussouw
Mr. Sabatini
Michael Huff
Dr. Whitaker
Grant Brett Swanby
Father Augustine
Emil Hostina
Alexandria's Father/Ban...
Ayesha Verman
Indian's Bride
Ketut Rina
Chief Mystic
Nicholas Soultanakis
Horace
Jon Kamen
Morty
Karen Haacke
Alice
Ronald France
Otto
Sean Gilder
Walt Purdy
Daniel Caltagirone
Sinclair/Governor Odiou...
Aiden Lithgow
Alexander's Messenger
Camilla Waldman
Crying Woman
Elvira Deactu
Alexandria's Mother
Emma Johnston
Alexandria's Sister

Critic Reviews for The Fall

All Critics (106) | Top Critics (24) | Fresh (63) | Rotten (45) | DVD (6)

...a movie that not only expected me to pay attention, it assumed that I could.

February 2, 2009 Full Review Source: Film.com

| Comment

Mark Bourne

Film.com

Top Critic

The girl and the hospital patients and staff also turn up in his improvised adventure, extravagantly garbed by costume designer Eiko Ishioka.

December 17, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

| Comment

Bill Stamets

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

An achingly beautiful movie and a triumph of location scouting, with more cosmopolitan spectacle than the past three Indiana Jones and James Bond movies combined.

May 30, 2008 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle

| Comment

Peter Hartlaub

San Francisco Chronicle

Top Critic

Sometimes, looking good isn't enough.

May 30, 2008 Full Review Source: ReelViews

| Comments (2)

James Berardinelli

ReelViews

Top Critic

That's the trouble with candy, the eye kind or the tooth-decaying variety. It's only after you've made a glutton of yourself that you realize you haven't devoured anything particularly filling.

May 30, 2008 Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel

| Comments (2)

Roger Moore

Orlando Sentinel

Top Critic

The Fall is a technically dazzling film that instantly gratifies the eye, but falls short of appeasing the head or the heart with its visual excesses.

May 30, 2008 Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune

| Comment

Kathie Smith

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Top Critic

So what if the front story is a little contrived?

August 15, 2011 Full Review Source: East Bay Express

| Comment

Kelly Vance

East Bay Express

Often praised -- and rightly so -- for its incredible visuals and nonstop stylishness. I have no problem with that, except that I'm equally taken by its thematic implications.

July 6, 2010 Full Review Source: Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

| Comment

Ken Hanke

Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

A long, long trip through the museum

August 26, 2009 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine

| Comment

Fernando F. Croce

Slant Magazine

I wonder if it's unforgivable heresy to say The Cell is badly underestimated and due for revisionism while The Fall, despite its relative obscurity, is badly overestimated.

June 9, 2009 Full Review Source: Film Freak Central

| Comment (1)

Walter Chaw

Film Freak Central

Something like a Sir David Lean epic crossed with trippy offshoots of tall tales of Zorro, Ali Baba and Pecos Bill rolled into one, The Fall is a sun-kissed companion to Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth. A brilliant follow-up from Tarsem Singh.

November 7, 2008 Full Review Source: Suite101.com

| Comment

Nick Rogers

Suite101.com

Tarsem has found a home for his endlessly unique visions, and (wouldn't you know?) it's beyond artifice and stealing toward art.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle

| Comment

Marc Savlov

Austin Chronicle

The story Roy tells is involving enough and so beautifully shot (see how many locations you can name) that it's worth seeing for that alone.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: San Diego Metropolitan

| Comment

Jean Lowerison

San Diego Metropolitan

One of the most beautiful things ever put on the big screen. On the other hand, the story is far too thin for adults, and far too dark for kids.

October 3, 2008 Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall

| Comment

Rich Cline

Shadows on the Wall

The film may look a treat in a static kind of way but the whole is a piece of turgid pictorialism that ends up unbearably dull.

October 3, 2008 Full Review Source: This is London

| Comment

Derek Malcolm

This is London

While nice to look at, it's also a very tedious slice of magical realism lacking in tension, suspense and, indeed, magic.

October 3, 2008 Full Review Source: Daily Mirror [UK]

| Comments (2)

David Edwards

Daily Mirror [UK]

Beguiling, befuddling, brilliant. It's sure to divide audiences but, for all its ocular opulence and wild fantasy, at heart The Fall is a tender, touching tale about childhood, hope and the power of story.

October 3, 2008 Full Review Source: Total Film

| Comment

Nev Pierce

Total Film

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Audience Reviews for The Fall

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The story is so large but never covers any true depth. The scenery is beautiful but in the end goes to waste with such a mediocre plot.

February 5, 2012

paul oh

Super Reviewer

The Fall is the graphic representation of the vivid imagination of a little girl (Catinca Untaru), inspired by the tales told by a Hollywood stuntman who dreams of being a movie star and getting the girl (a remarkable Lee Pace). The narrative is all over the place but visually, this film is a masterpiece. This majestic

May 5, 2008

Fernando Rafael Quintero Casta�eda

Super Reviewer

The Fall Quotes

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1. Roy Walker: Are you trying to save my soul?
– Submitted by rob g (10 months ago)
1. Charles Darwin/Orderly: Shoot, you animals. They'll pay you well for Darwin's hide.
– Submitted by rob g (10 months ago)

Character	Quote
	Enter quote here...	Delete

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Latest News for The Fall

December 8, 2008:

Roger Ebert Ranks 2008's 20 Best Films
December isn't even halfway over yet, and many of us have already had our fill of year-end lists --...

October 6, 2008:

Exclusive: The Fall - Tarsem's Visual Companion - Part 2
Its otherworldly story split critics down the middle, but none can argue with the power of its...

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