Fall (1997)

One of the few movies ever to make me cry. Schaeffer handles the poor boy/rich girl dynamic with a tenderness that breaks your heart. Maybe it's just me, but it seems, like the best Woody Allen movies, New York City plays a big part in this movie. The music is good, too, especially the female shriek at the end (does anyone know where that's from? Was it just done for the movie, or is it from a piece of music I just don't know?) I loved the protagonist's take on God: "I had the best God in the league." Schaeffer has done other excellent movies, too, notably If Lucy Fell.One of the few movies to make me cry. Schaeffer handles the poor boy/rich girl dynamic with a tenderness that breaks your heart. Maybe it's just me, but it seems, like the best Woody Allen movies, New York City plays a big part in this movie. The music is good, too, especially the female shriek at the end (does anyone know where that's from? Was it just done for the movie, or is it from a piece of music I just don't know?) I loved the protagonist's take on God: "I had the best God in the league." Amanda DeCadenet was very good and very sexy. Schaeffer has done other excellent movies, too, notably "If Lucy Fell."

I loved the film and was shocked and moved by the superb ending. It is the kind of ending that makes you sit up and listen deeply rather than drift. I replayed the ending several times to capture the beautiful symphony of words, so beautifully crafted that the intensity of Michael's love cannot be denied.I particularly enjoy a film that does NOT have your typical mainstream actors, rather those who we hardly know. These are not "beautiful" people, but beautifully ordinary and perfectly paired for a memorable love story.Watch and enjoy.

... but a bad film indeed. I have seen many of the reviews about this film and I agree with the fact that the protagonist was an insensitive clod with high school like pick up techniques that would not amount to much more than getting a date with a back up cheerleader. I believe that the movie was about a taxi driver, with literary skills writing a novel. In other words , this was all fantasy and eventually to be written into a 'bestseller'. There are clues through out this film when images appear and disappear and our protagonist is in a meditational state, at various points in the film. Hints of Michaels imagination were sprinkled through out this film, even at the very end, if you watch closely. That said, This was not a particularly good film. The acting was on the lame side, the story is one that was done many times before and a lot of silliness and unrealistic scenes, even if it was from the standpoint Michael was writing a novel. This was basically , a movie within a movie and I did not feel it worked. I also believe this film glorified cheaters, stalkers and yes even rapists. Michael writing a book or not was not likable and neither was super model Sarah Easton, the chain smoking, giddy, romantic and very married partner in lust. This movie tried to be different and yes even realistic, with the character flaws. It just was a lesson in futility to try and root for any of these people... Part of cabbie Michaels novel or not.

I cried. And cried and cried. Some films simply remind you of relationships, others evoke emotional experiences (should you have any) for relationships gone south, some tease you with relationships that might have been. "Fall" incorporates all of these. First off, my primary recollection from the 3 or 4 times I've enjoyed watching "Fall" is the ending. Sarah is in Paris, exiting some chic place with Phillipe. Michael, who has flown to Paris in desperate need to re-connect with her, tracks her down (magically) and sees her exiting. He looks at her, she looks at him, she non-verbally gestures "no, don't connect with me any more"--- and he breaks down in sobs. As do I, even as I'm writing this. The longing for true love on his face—the yearning for a love than can never be fully returned—is one of the best, if not THE best, portrayal of unrequited love I have ever seen in any film. Bar none. Heart-breaking sobs. You, who berate this film for Eric Schaeffer's self-indulgence and egoism, must never have felt this type of unrequited love, and for you I feel sorry (or not—I guess it's easier to be ignorant in love but wise in film criticism). For the rest of us, he struck a chord that is rarely approached in film. Forget the strap-on, dismiss the socioeconomic disconnect, don't fret over the boastfulness—this film simply nailed that painful yearning for true love that some romantics still treasure. The dialog touches many of us as personally poignant but that "film" critics interpret as trite. I could wax eloquent about the cinematography—especially one scene where Sarah is walking past a piece d'art depicting waves (get the metaphor, duh!) with an equivalently apt soundtrack—but the arrogant, non-romantic film critics would dismiss this as being self-indulgent. You know, sometimes we need self-indulgence—especially when it comes to relationships! Give me those scenes that touch my heart, expand my senses, and evoke my passion. If you want to be really TOUCHED by a film, see Fall. You won't be disappointed (unless you've taken Film Criticism 101, in which case cynicism trumps romanticism).