Fall (2014 film)

Fall is a 2014 Canadian drama film.[1] Written and directed by Terrance Odette,[2] the film stars Michael Murphy as Father Sam, a Roman Catholic priest who receives a letter asking about a sexual abuse incident he participated in 40 years earlier. The film was inspired by a past encounter of Odette when he was 14, but is not a direct portrayal of his childhood[3]

Fall
Directed byTerrance Odette
Produced byMehernaz Lentin
Written byTerrance Odette
Starring
Music byNick Storring
CinematographyNorayr Kasper
Edited byCaroline Christie
Production
company
Lentin Odette Productions
Distributed byMongrel Media (2014) (Canada) (theatrical)
Breaking Glass Pictures (2017) (USA) (all media)
Release date
  • October 3, 2014 (2014-10-03) (VIFF)
Running time
82 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

The film's cast also includes Wendy Crewson, Suzanne Clément, Katie Boland, Linda Kash and Joel Bissonnette.

The film garnered five Canadian Screen Award nominations at the 3rd Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Murphy), Best Art Direction/Production Design (William Layton), Best Cinematography (Norayr Kasper) and Best Sound Editing (Elma Bello).[4]

Plot

The film follows the mundane life of Father Sam, who tends to his small Niagara Falls parish. He appears to simply be wearily going through the motions of his life routine.

Father Sam's life is forced into descent when he receives a letter from a man named Christopher, now on his death bed, who Father Sam had mentored 40 years ago. The letter alludes to an incident when Father Sam shared a bed with Christopher when he was 14 years old, and asks whether anything inappropriate had occurred.

This leads Father Sam to embark on a roadtrip to Northern Ontario where he visits his mother and sister, and then to confront Christopher's widow Catherine. She bitterly accuses him of having sexually molested her late husband. Father Sam denies the accusation, but it is apparent that not even he is exactly sure about what happened 40 years ago during that night.

The film features lengthy scenes of the natural backdrops of roaring waterfalls with minimal dialogue, displaying "Murphy’s ability to command the screen with stillness".[5]

Cast

Critical Response

Reviews of the film are mixed. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has only 5 critical reviews. In their comments, some critics view the film as "quietly haunting and effective".[6] Others like Gary Goldstein state that "Murphy’s quietly precise performance ultimately can’t overcome the film’s chilly gravity and unsatisfying finale".[7] Lacey Liam of The Globe and Mail says the film has a promising premise but the "follow through is solemn to the point of dullness".[8] Similarly, The Hollywood Reporter states "The Bottom Line: Veteran character actor Michael Murphy delivers a quietly mesmerizing performance in this frustratingly static drama".[9] However Joe Leydon at Variety thought "Terrance Odette’s rigorously spare 2014 Canadian-produced drama" had "the overall ambiance of stark, stripped-to-essentials emotional and aesthetic rawness that might have made Robert Bresson proud".[10]

References
  1. "Terrance Odette’s Fall chronicles fall from grace". The Record, November 29, 2014.
  2. "Hamilton director takes introspective feature 'Fall' to Vancouver festival". CBC News, October 3, 2014.
  3. "Inside the Complicated truth of a fall from grace". The Globe and Mail, December 5, 2014.
  4. "Canadian Screen Awards Unveil Nominations". The Hollywood Reporter, January 13, 2015.
  5. Film Review” The Hollywood Reporter, Frank Scheck, January 1st, 2017
  6. "Reel Brief", Bruce Demara, Toronto Star, December 4th 2014
  7. "A Haunted Catholic Priest Questions his past in the slow-moving "Fall"', Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times, January 26th, 2017
  8. "Fall Review", Lacey Liam, The Globe and Mail, December 5th 2014
  9. "‘Fall’ Film Review", Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter, January 2nd, 2017
  10. https://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/fall-review-terrance-odette-1201981032/
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