Four girls, Alma (1910s), Erika (1940s), Angelika (1980s), and Lenka (2020s) each spend their youth on the same farm in northern Germany. As the home evolves over a century, echoes of the past linger in its walls. Though separated by time, their lives begin to mirror each other, revealing shared secrets that have been kept hidden.
The Garden Cinema View:
Mascha Schilinski's dreamlike and somewhat opaque sophomore film loosely focuses on women's intergenerational trauma and supernatural connections.
The storytelling is highly fragmented and has a ghostly, meditative quality that makes clear-cut interpretation elusive. Yet, no matter how loose the cinematic language, nothing feels accidental; like a skilled jazz musician, Schilinski always brings the story back to the core. Featuring numerous uncanny elements it operates in the tradition of visual artists - specifically the dark absurdism of David Lynch, Joel Peter Witkin, Jan Svankmajer, and the Quay brothers.
Sound of Falling could be a bit shorter, it's hefty two and a half hours slightly diffusing its power. Nevertheless, Schilinski is clearly a highly assured early career director with a singular artistic vision.
