1 / 8
MONEY
Did you know
Earned back only 13% of its budget on initial theatrical โ a commercial disappointment on release.
MoodPlayr ยท trivia#01
The Fall
"A little blessing in disguise."
2008 1h 57m EN
๐
7.6
BANGER
โ
7.6TMDB ยท 1,629
AdventureFantasyDrama
Synopsis
Spoiler shield
In a hospital on the outskirts of 1920s Los Angeles, an injured stuntman begins to tell a fellow patient, a little girl with a broken arm, a fantastic story about 5 mythical heroes. Thanks to his fractured state of mind and her vivid imagination, the line between fiction and reality starts to blur as the tale advances.
โA little blessing in disguise.โ
Cast
Lee Pace
Roy Walker
Justine Waddell
Nurse Evelyn / Sister Evelyn
Daniel Caltagirone
Sinclair / Governor Odious
Leo Bill
Darwin / Orderly
Sean Gilder
Walt Purdy
Julian Bleach
Mystic / Orange Picker
Marcus Wesley
Otta Benga / Ice Delivery Man
Robin Smith
Luigi / One Legged Actor
Credits
Behind the camera
- Director
- Tarsem Singh
- Writers
- Dan Gilroy, Tarsem Singh, Valeri Petrov
- Languages
- English, Romanian, Latin
- Countries
- United States of America
Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.
Did you know?
Fun facts ๐ฟ
2 / 8
ERA
Did you know
Released 18 years ago.
MoodPlayr ยท trivia#02
3 / 8
WORLD
Did you know
Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Romanian, Latin.
MoodPlayr ยท trivia#03
4 / 8
DIRECTOR
Did you know
Directed by Tarsem Singh, shot by Colin Watkinson. Note their partnership โ DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
MoodPlayr ยท trivia#04
5 / 8
DIRECTOR
Did you know
Original score by Krishna Levy. Worth a dedicated listen after โ most great films lose half their impact without the score.
MoodPlayr ยท trivia#05
6 / 8
DIRECTOR
Did you know
Editor Robert Duffy shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
MoodPlayr ยท trivia#06
7 / 8
CAST
Did you know
Lee Pace and Justine Waddell and Daniel Caltagirone carry the top of the cast.
MoodPlayr ยท trivia#07
8 / 8
FACT
Did you know
Marketing tagline: "A little blessing in disguise.".
MoodPlayr ยท trivia#08
Cinephile deep dive
The take
Tarsem Singh directs. Colin Watkinson behind the camera. Krishna Levy scores. Robert Duffy cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Romanian, Latin.
Trivia
Things worth knowing
- 1Earned back only 13% of its budget on initial theatrical โ a commercial disappointment on release.
- 2Released 18 years ago.
- 3Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Romanian, Latin.
- 4Directed by Tarsem Singh, shot by Colin Watkinson. Note their partnership โ DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
- 5Original score by Krishna Levy. Worth a dedicated listen after โ most great films lose half their impact without the score.
- 6Editor Robert Duffy shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
- 7Lee Pace and Justine Waddell and Daniel Caltagirone carry the top of the cast.
- 8Marketing tagline: "A little blessing in disguise.".
- 9IMDB entry: tt0460791 โ still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
- 10The top-rated still from this film on TMDB has multiple community votes โ a signal the frame composition stuck with viewers.
- 11Classified under 19 themes, including "suicide attempt", "stuntman", "remake", "morphine".
The technical file
- Cinematography
- Colin Watkinson
- Original score
- Krishna Levy
- Editing
- Robert Duffy
- Production design
- Ged Clarke
- Costume design
- Eiko Ishioka
- Makeup / hair
- Kevin Epstein
- VFX supervisor
- Alain Carsoux
- Sound
- Dean Humphreys
- Runtime
- 117 min ยท 1h 57m
- Aspect ratio (typical)
- 1.37:1 (Academy)
- Status
- Released
- Budget
- $30,000,000
- Box office
- $3,984,390
- Return
- 13% of budget
- Original language
- EN
- Certification (US)
- R
- IMDB
- The Fall (2008)
Awards
- Sitges Film Festival Best Feature-Length Film award
Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.
Also by
Tarsem Singh
Stills ยท wallpapers
Selected frames
Full-resolution frames โ open one to save it as a wallpaper.
Trailers & featurettes
Watch the pieces
Community reviews
What people are saying
- Andres Gomezโ 6/10
Maybe too ambitious this drama told through a children's tale. Photography is great, though.
- CinemaSerfโ 7/10
This is quite an enjoyable depiction of some multi-lingual Arabian Nights-style scenarios as we find "Roy" (Lee Pace) in an hospital in 1920s Los Angeles. He had previously been a movie stuntman but an accident has robbed him of the use of his legs and so with medical science being somewhat limited, he is pretty much bedridden. Also in the hospital is the young "Alexandria" (Catinca Untaru) who is recovering from breaking her arm and in need of some cheering up. With a vivid and varied imagination, he begins to regale his new friend with fantastic tales of bandits and slaves all trying to defeat the epitome of evil that is "Odious". Along the way, she becomes enthralled as the "Black Bandit" tries to avenge the killing of his "Blue" brother by working with the equally aggrieved "Luigi" (Robin Smith) who turns out to be quite nimble when it comes to getting things to blow up! Indeed, before too long we have quite a few folks determined to bring their nasty antagonist to book. There is method to his madness in telling these stories, though. She is charged with procuring some medicine for him that he can't get from the nurses. When we discover just what that is, then we begin to appreciate that "Roy" has a darker agenda of his own. The question might be, will his stories create a bond with the youngster that might divert him from that path? This is great fun, with loads of action packed into a two hours that really does fly by. The performance from Daniel Caltagirone as the baddie reminded me a little of the sergeant from the old "Zorro" television series - menacing but in an almost avuncular fashion, and with loads of swash and buckle, pyrotechnics and fantastic mystery it's just as easy for us to get sucked into his stories as it is for the young "Alexandria" - and that's a character that's played well by the young Miss Untaru - imbuing enthusiasm, a bit of awe, and latterly something altogether a little more poignant. The scoring is lively, the dialogue frequently quite funny and the portmanteau style of chaptered storytelling works well. It's for grown ups; you can appreciate that pretty much from the start and I really did like it.
- dbโ 10/10
A visual masterpiece with surprising depth. It has arguably the best child acting performance ever put on film, and unarguably the best location scouting.
Production companies
Who made it
- GO
Googly Films
US
- AB
Absolute Entertainment
RadicalMedia
US
- TR
Tree Top Films
- DE
Deep Films
Key crew
- ProducerLionel Kopp
- ProducerRay Leakey
- ProducerJosh Robertson
- Executive ProducerAjit Singh
- Line ProducerTino Saroengallo
- EditorRobert Duffy
- Line ProducerValeria Satas
- ProducerNico Soultanakis
- CastingDan Hubbard
- Line ProducerLaurette Marais
- ProducerTarsem Singh
- Line ProducerRoberto Bakker
- Line ProducerMourad Moussauwi
- Line ProducerMichal ล kop
- Line ProducerCharles Wang
- Line ProducerMine Kalpakcioglu
- CastingChrista Schamberger
- Production DesignGed Clarke
- Executive ProducerTommy Turtle
- Line ProducerMichele Anzalone
- Line ProducerAlejandro Ruax
- Line ProducerCarlos Paiva
- Graphic DesignerTiffany M. Carpenter
- Music EditorCatherine Le Mignant-Labye
Themes & keywords
What it's about, really
- suicide attempt
- stuntman
- remake
- morphine
- hospital
- patient
- bandit
- filmmaking
- storytelling
- 1920s
- grim
- old hollywood
- loving
- playful
- introspective
- audacious
- exuberant
- hopeful
- vibrant
Release history ยท US
When it landed
- Premiere2007-06-30ยท Los Angeles Film Festival
- Theatrical (limited)2024-10-16Rยท 4K Re-Release
- Theatrical2008-05-30R
Also known as
International titles
- DรผsรผsTR
- ExopragmatikotitaGR
- The Fall - Im Reich der FantasieDE
- The Fall - Im Reich der PhantasieDE
- ะะฐ ะผะตะถะตัUA
- ่ฝไธใฎ็ๅฝJP
- แแแ แแแGE
- ๋ ํด: ๋๋ ํฐ์ค ์ปทKR
