The Falling (2014 film)
| The Falling | |
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UK theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Carol Morley |
| Produced by | |
| Written by | Carol Morley |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Tracey Thorn |
| Cinematography | Agnes Godard |
| Edited by | Chris Wyatt |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Metrodome UK |
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Release date
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Running time
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102 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £750,000 |
| Box office | £468,762 |
The Falling is a 2014 British mystery drama film written and directed by Carol Morley. It stars Maisie Williams and Florence Pugh as best friends at an all-girls school. The film also stars Greta Scacchi, Monica Dolan, Maxine Peake, and Mathew Baynton. Production began in October 2013. The film premiered at the BFI London Film Festival on 11 October 2014 and was released theatrically on 24 April 2015 in the UK. The Falling earned £468,762 on a £750,000 budget.
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 suffers an episode 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 a 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.
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