Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £4.99 a month
The Falls
Peter Greenaway's epic first feature, constructed as an excerpt from an imagined, filmic directory listing everyone affected by VUE – the Violent Unknown Event
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1980 195 mins
Director: Peter Greenaway
Overview
Following a series of inventive shorts, Peter Greenaway arrived fully formed as a feature filmmaker with this highly confident, audacious epic.
A mockumentary of sorts, it’s constructed as an excerpt from an imagined, filmic directory listing everyone affected by VUE – the Violent Unknown Event – a mysterious apocalyptic occurrence that has left a substantial section of the British public speaking bizarre, invented languages, dreaming of water and identifying themselves with birds. The excerpt in question concerns everyone whose surname begins with ‘Fall’, hence the title. In description the film may sound like a dry (and somewhat foreboding – at over three hours) exercise, but in fact Greenaway’s film is an unconventional delight. Its series of extremely surreal biographies describe characters with unnerving obsessions and fantastical afflictions, all conveyed in Greenaway’s distinct, deadpan absurdist poetry. The two overriding themes are ornithology and geography, and Greenaway’s preoccupation with place prefigures the psychogeographic filmmaking of Patrick Keiller and Iain Sinclair. Keen observers of Greenaway’s work will find obscure references to many of his future films, including a first appearance for the ubiquitous Tulse Luper, but the film’s endlessly quotable dialogue can be admired by anyone: (“"She was a waterfall on legs"; “Most of them had turned into penguins”; “Her body reabsorbed her breasts”.)
Accessibility
Related
Animation & Artists Moving Image
Fata Morgana Fata Morgana
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1971 76 mins Director: Werner Herzog
Herzog’s intense, dreamlike mediation on desert life as if seen by an alien.
Bronco's House Bronco's House
Drama 2015 44 mins Director: Mark Jenkin
A young man strives to provide a home for his pregnant girlfriend and their unborn child, in Mark Jenkin's mid-length precursor to Bait.
The Last of England The Last of England
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1987 91 mins Director: Derek Jarman
Derek Jarman's passionate and poetic lament on the rise of Thatcherism and corporate dealings.
Sebastiane Sebastiane
Historical drama 1976 85 mins Director: Derek Jarman
A distinctly bold and sensual reclaiming of gay history, Jarman here tells the sexually intense story of the 4th-century martyr.
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1961 85 mins Director: Karel Zeman
Karel Zeman’s wildly inventive and comic take on the surreal adventures of the bragging Baron explodes on to the screen in a riot of colour, visual wit and poetic verve.
The Whalebone Box The Whalebone Box
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2019 83 mins Director: Andrew Kötting
On their latest jaunt, Iain Sinclair and Andrew Kötting set out to return a whalebone box to its place of origin in the Outer Hebrides.
British Cinema
Bait Bait
Drama 2018 89 mins Director: Mark Jenkin
Simmering tensions between locals and newcomers in a modern-day Cornish fishing village reach boiling point in this hugely acclaimed British independent film.
The Last Tree The Last Tree
Drama 2019 99 mins Director: Shola Amoo
Femi, a young British boy of Nigerian heritage, has to adapt to the new environment of inner-city London, in this outstanding, BIFA-winning drama from Shola Amoo (A Moving Image).
Little Joe Little Joe
Science Fiction 2019 105 mins Director: Jessica Hausner
Jessica Hausner’s cool, witty and unsettling sci-fi starring Emily Beecham and Ben Whishaw.
It Couldn't Happen Here It Couldn't Happen Here
Drama 1987 86 mins Director: Jack Bond
The pop-surrealist road movie starring the Pet Shop Boys, finally available for the first time in the digital era.
The Whalebone Box The Whalebone Box
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2019 83 mins Director: Andrew Kötting
On their latest jaunt, Iain Sinclair and Andrew Kötting set out to return a whalebone box to its place of origin in the Outer Hebrides.
Bronco's House Bronco's House
Drama 2015 44 mins Director: Mark Jenkin
A young man strives to provide a home for his pregnant girlfriend and their unborn child, in Mark Jenkin's mid-length precursor to Bait.
Directed by Peter Greenaway
Eisenstein in Guanajuato Eisenstein in Guanajuato
Biopic 2015 106 mins Director: Peter Greenaway
One of Britain’s most inventive filmmakers, Peter Greenaway, tackles the story of arguably the most influential filmmaker in cinema history, Sergei Eisenstein.
A Zed and Two Noughts A Zed and Two Noughts
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1985 117 mins Director: Peter Greenaway
Following a fatal car crash involving a swan outside a zoo, twin-brother zoologists Oliver and Oswald become fascinated by the processes of decay.
The Draughtsman's Contract The Draughtsman's Contract
Period drama 1982 107 mins Director: Peter Greenaway
Peter Greenaway became a director of international status with this witty, stylised, erotic country house murder mystery.
Goltzius and the Pelican Company Goltzius and the Pelican Company
Biopic 2012 117 mins Director: Peter Greenaway
An artist stages a series of erotic dramatisations illustrating sexual taboos from the Old Testament, in this startling and shocking return from director Peter Greenaway.
New
Antichrist Antichrist
Horror 2009 104 mins Director: Lars von Trier
After tragedy strikes, a couple retreat to a cabin in the woods in order to grieve. However, they find things go from bad to worse, in this brutal interrogation of nature from Lars von Trier.
Babette's Feast Babette's Feast
Drama 1987 99 mins Director: Gabriel Axel
During the Franco-Prussian war a devoutly protestant village in Denmark take in a French refugee, who becomes a servant to the late pastor's daughter.
Enfant Terrible Enfant Terrible
Biopic 2020 135 mins Director: Oskar Roehler
The life and loves of celebrated filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder are laid bare in this engrossing, unconventional biopic.
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
Drama 2002 121 mins Director: Park Chan-wook
Acclaimed director Park Chan-wook (The Handmaiden, Oldboy) kicks off his celebrated ‘Vengeance trilogy’ with this dazzling, shocking tale of kidnapping, organ transplants and revenge.
Stroszek Stroszek
Drama 1977 108 mins Director: Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog’s uniquely askew take on Americana follows the journey of Bruno S. as he leaves Berlin for the bleak trailer parks of Wisconsin.
Nosferatu the Vampyre Nosferatu the Vampyre
Horror 1979 107 mins Director: Werner Herzog
English language version of Herzog’s stimulating take on the Dracula story starring Klaus Kinski, with echoes of Murnau’s 1922 Nosferatu.