History Film / TheFall

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_fall_movie_poster_4643.jpg]]

->'''Roy:''' All right, close your eyes. What do you see?\\
'''Alexandria:''' Nothing.\\
'''Roy:''' Rub them. Can you see the stars?\\
'''Alexandria:''' ...Yes.

A 2006 {{fantasy}} film by Tarsem Singh, based on the 1981 Bulgarian film ''Yo Ho Ho'' by Valeri Petrov. The film took four years to shoot, in 26 locations in over 18 countries, and was funded by Creator/SpikeJonze and Creator/DavidFincher. The trailer [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil spoils]] most of its plot twists.

''The Fall'' tells the story of Roy (Creator/LeePace), a crippled stuntman in early 20th-century Hollywood, and Alexandria, an inquisitive 5-year-old girl he befriends during his hospital stay. Roy has a broken heart and a death wish: during his last (and so far only) film, he tried a stunt his fellow stuntmen called downright suicidal, and was left crippled by his fall.

Confined to his hospital bed, Roy has a plan: he begins weaving for Alexandria the most epic adventure story ever told. It stars seven heroes -- the Black Bandit, an Italian, an Indian, a Mystic, ex-slave Otta Benga, Charles Darwin, and Wallace the monkey -- on a quest of revenge against the evil Governor Odious, each for their own reasons. With the story, Roy tries to get Alexandria excited about bandits, and about stealing… and for each installment of the story he tells her, he wants her to steal a little something for him in return.

But Roy has little idea how to talk to young children, and Alexandria is stubborn, barely speaks English, and still lives by the laws of her own child logic. The story Roy tells is seen entirely through Alexandria's eyes: every character (and prop) in Roy's story is imagined by Alexandria as someone (or something) she's seen in daily life. And it quickly becomes clear that her life so far has been extremely traumatizing. Her fantasy world is cute at first, but turns sinister as Roy sinks deeper and deeper into depression. Each time Alexandria makes an innocent mistake, Roy punishes her for it by punishing his characters within the tale. Finally, Alexandria decides that the story isn't safe with Roy, and she takes over the narration herself.

The end result is a combination of epic fantasy and SceneryPorn, taking its cues from ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' and ''Film/ThePrincessBride''. [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids It's not for kids]].

''The Fall'' won a slew of "Best Picture" awards.

It is not based on, and [[SimilarlyNamedWorks should not be confused with]], the Creator/AlbertCamus novel of [[Literature/TheFall the same name]]. Nor does it have anything to do with the 2014 [[VideoGame/TheFall videogame]], or with the PostPunk band led by Mark E. Smith also called Music/TheFall, or the survival-thriller ''Film/{{Fall}}''.

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!!This film contains examples of:
* AnachronismStew: On purpose, even including the Eiffel Tower. Seeing Odious' car in the fantasy setting of the story is particularly jarring, signifying the story's finale. (The car is at home in the 1920's, though: in the [[DVDCommentary DVD Commentary]] director Tarsem states that, [[RealityIsUnrealistic despite what most people thought]], that car was a real model from the era.
* AndYouWereThere: Every character (and prop) in Roy's story is imagined by Alexandria as someone (or something) she sees in daily life. Particularly noticeable once Roy includes an "Indian" (Native American) in his story -- and Alexandria consistently imagines him as being from India. More specifically:
** The Black Bandit is initially revealed to be Alexandria's father, as seen in a photograph. When she notes that the Black Bandit isn't her father (as he died), he is switched out to Roy.
** Both the Indian and the Mystic are workers Alexandria knows from the orange groves, and are seen at the end and briefly in photographs.
** Otta Benga is the delivery man for the ice company, and Luigi is the one-legged stuntman who visits Roy, and [[spoiler:Odious is Sinclair, the actor who stole Roy's girlfriend.]]
** Charles Darwin is one of the orderlies, one of the doctors is Alexander the Great, and [[spoiler:Nurse Evelyn is Sister Evelyn.]]
* AnnoyingArrows: [[spoiler: The ones that kill Otta Benga barely pierce him.]]
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Each of the heroes has a personal vendetta against Governor Odious ranging from the death of a brother, death of a wife and the death of a ''butterfly''.
* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Done in-universe with gusto with Roy's story, although with some nuances outside as well. In particular, he throws in that Governor Odious is Spanish when it's Otta Benga's turn to have a grudge against his former slavemaster, despite the historical Ota Benga was bought by an American and never had anything to do with Spain. The implication that Spaniards are a codifier for working black slaves to death is also ironic; while the Spanish Empire did participate in the Atlantic slave trade like most other nations that could afford it, its slavery policies were actually much softer than average, to the point that Spanish domains were a favorite haven for fugitive slaves from English or French colonies because they could easily become free citizens there.
* AuthorAppeal: Much of the visuals and mythology are based on Indian culture.
* BestServedCold: Most of the plot revolves around this.
* BigOlEyebrows: Lee Pace has a very nice pair.
* BigNo: Used as a joke at the start, played very, ''very'' straight at the end.
* BilingualBonus: Catinca Untaru has dialog in her native Romanian.
* BittersweetEnding: Both in the reality and in the fantasy. [[spoiler: Alexandria will never see Roy again, and Roy is almost certainly permanently crippled, but she thinks he's the stuntman in every film she sees.]]
* ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth: Darwin's personal vendetta against Odious was for the death of a butterfly. [[spoiler:Wallace himself chases after a butterfly -- one of the same species that Darwin is looking for -- and gets shot for it.]]
* CatchPhrase: "Googly Googly". This was used by an elderly patient who uses it when things frighten him.
* ChildrenAreInnocent: A lot of scenes deal with Alexandria overhearing conversations and not understanding the gravity of them, mostly due to the fact she's only five years old. At one point she steals communion wafers from a priest and starts eating them, even offering them to Roy, but it's made very clear she has no idea what their intended purpose is or even what they are. Later on Roy is able to dupe her into [[spoiler:fetching him morpine pills so he can commit suicide]] because she could never figure out his true intentions.
* CoolMask: Worn by the Black Bandit.
* CostumePorn: Oh very YES!
* CreatorBreakdown: [[spoiler:In-universe. The story's tone becomes darker and darker as Roy's emotional state worsens, and near the end he kills off every character just so Alexandria will leave him alone]].
* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The film's opening titles sequence is shot in black and white. It's actually footage of the film Roy was in.
* DesertBandits: The main characters turn into heroic versions of this when they attack the BigBad's caravan in the desert.
* DrivenToSuicide: The Indian's wife was thrown into the Labyrinth of Despair when she refused Odious's advances. The only way to escape was to throw herself off the tower. [[spoiler: Roy planned to overdose on morphine after becoming paralyzed and losing his girlfriend to the actor he does stunts for.]]
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: Most of the characters.
** [[spoiler:The Italian blowing himself up to destroy all of the guards.]]
** [[spoiler: Otta Benga shields Alexandria with his own body, taking so many arrows in the back that they ''support his body weight.'']]
** [[spoiler: The Indian cutting the rope he's climbing to kill the last few guards climbing the same rope.]]
** [[spoiler: Charles Darwin's FacingTheBulletsOneLiner, see below.]]
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Most of the characters.
* ExactWords:
** [[spoiler:Roy writes to Alexandria to get him Morphine pills, but the 'E' looks like a 3. So not only does she read it as Morphin-3, but also assumed that he only wanted 3 pills and dumped everything else down into the toilet.]]
** [[spoiler:Moreover, Roy says to Alexandria that these pills will help him go to sleep. A ''permanent'' type of sleep that is.]]
* FacingTheBulletsOneLiner: [[spoiler:"Shoot, you animals. They'll pay you well for Darwin's hide."]]
* TheForeignSubtitle: Released in Spain as ''The Fall: El Sueno de Alexandria'' ("The Fall: Alexandria's Dream").
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Darwin mentions that the birds are safe inside the Mystic's belly.
* ForTheEvulz: The only motivation of Governor Odious in the fantasy.
* FramingDevice: Exploited to great effect.
** The Indian is clearly Native American by Roy's description but the visual shows him as an undefined Indian royal. The confusion is deliberate. Roy is thinking of an actor he knew while Alexandria is thinking of her friend the orange-picker.
* FracturedFairyTale
* {{Gorn}}: Used sparingly, but when it's used, it's reeeeal pretty.
* HeroicSacrifice: Just about everyone does this [[spoiler:in the final act as it coincides with Roy's breakdown]].
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Exaggerated to the point of parody with [[spoiler: Odious's death]].
** Subverted with Roy's plan to make Alexandria get him morphine, which made him become close to her, which in turn made him [[spoiler: get past his broken heart and forget his suicide wish]].
* HistoricalInJoke: Charles Darwin's pet monkey and muse Wallace is a ShoutOut to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Russel_Wallace Alfred Russel Wallace]]. Wallace famously came up with the theory of evolution independently of Darwin but published later.
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Lee Pace is 6'5", so this happened. A lot. Particularly noticeable whenever the Black Bandit and Alexandria are together in the story.
* HumanoidAbomination: In-story, [[FacelessGoons Odious' guards are based on Alexandria's fearful image of an early X-ray operator clad in leather and lead]], and instead of speaking they make a variety of animal howls and snarls.
* HumanNotepad: Partway through the story the Mystic gains a full-body tattoo of a map to Odious' mansion.
* {{Hypochondria}}: Walt, one of the other patients in Roy's room, is this. The doctor humours his complaints about his "symptoms" but is secretly prescribing him sugar pills and passing them off as morphine.
* ImpossiblyCoolClothes: [[CostumePorn Almost everyone]], but especially Charles Darwin's insanely majestic fur cape.
* InnocentInaccurate: Alexandria's family pretty clearly had to immigrate to the United States because of a pogrom of some sort - Eastern Europe generally not being the friendliest place in the early 20th century - but when Roy tries to find out more, all she says is that "angry people" were responsible.
* IntergenerationalFriendship: The film is centered on the relationship between Alexandria (5) and Roy (20s).
* ItsPersonal: [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] and taken to [[SerialEscalation increasingly goofy]] extremes when the five heroes' motivation for revenge against Odious goes from the death of a brother to the death of of a ''[[SeriousBusiness butterfly.]]''
* JustifiedTitle: Both Alexandria and Roy are in the hospital because of injuries sustained in falls--and each undergoes a loss of innocence. [[spoiler:And the event that starts to pull Roy out of his depression is when Alexandria, stealing drugs for him, falls again.]]
* KickTheDog: Roy, upon seeing the finished film [[spoiler:learns that the his life-threatening fall had been replaced by another stunt]].
* LampshadeHanging: Occasional, such as when Alexandria questions the plot. Even [[MediumAwareness the characters notice]] on occasion:
-->'''Luigi''': (reading) "My dearest daughter. Never marry for money, fame, power or security; always follow your heart. Your ever-loving father."\\
'''Black Bandit''': It says all that on that little locket?\\
'''Luigi''': (shrugs) Sí.
* LargeHam: The Black Bandit. Justified, though, as it is the imagination of a 5-year-old; Roy is played much more naturally.
* LoveHurts: Used in the fantasy and in reality. In the story, The Black Bandit finds out that Sister Evelyn didn't actually love him. In reality, Roy is bitter over the fact that [[spoiler: his girlfriend left him for someone else.]]
* MatchCut: The butterfly fading into the reef and island; the priest's face and collar fading into a desert landscape. The latter one, in particular, is ''incredibly'' well-done and is currently the page image for the trope.
* MeaningfulName: Governor ''Odious''.
* MoodWhiplash: A lot of the more depressing scenes have elements of this. [[spoiler: While the Black Bandit is being beaten to death and starts drowning, Odious points out in exasperation that the pool is only "a few feet deep". In the same scene, Roy keeps trying to justify killing off the Black Bandit by listing his misdeeds: he's a [[DirtyCoward coward]], a liar, and he [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking had his fingers crossed when he took his oath]].]]
* {{Mooks}}: Clone after clone after clone of Alexandria's real-life nightmare, the X-ray technician wearing a leather apron, swarming through an M.C. Escher-esque maze (which was not CGI, but filmed at a ''real place'').
* MysteriousWaif: Lady Evelyn.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Governor ''Odious''.
* ObviouslyEvil: Again, "Governor Odious." It's lampshaded by the characters.
-->'''Alexandria:''' This Odious - he bad man?\\
'''Roy:''' Oh ''yeah.''
* OrangeBlueContrast: The vast majority of scenes. Even the shots that aren't orange/blue are some other equally complementary pairing like red/green.
* OverlyLongGag: The montage for why everyone hates Odious, complete with a SkywardScream ''every single time.''
* PocketProtector: The locket.
* PottyDance: The Princess starts doing this while speaking to the Black Bandit reflecting the fact that in the real world Alexandria needs to pee. The Bandit/Roy tells her to go to the bathroom because her fidgeting is distracting him.
* PimpedOutCape: Several of the characters. Charles Darwin wears a ''glorious'' red-and-white peacock-feather-patterned cape.
* PoorCommunicationKills: Roy asks Alexandria [[spoiler: to get Morphine pills, which she reads as Morphin-3. Because he didn't clarify that he wanted a full bottle, she literally assumed that he wants ''three'' pills and flushed everything down the toilet]].
* PracticalEffects: The vast majority of effects is all practical. CGI was used for simple visual cleanup and for a scene of a moving map on a character's skin, but all the SceneryPorn and impossibly fantastic architecture were shot on location.
* PrecociousCrush: Alexandria's behaviour towards Roy has hints of this, particularly when she covers his face with kisses while he's sleeping and also when she's shown drawing a heart on the drawing she makes for him.
* PrettyButterflies: ''Americana exotica'' is merely the apotheosis among appearances of ''[[{{Motifs}} Lepidoptera]]'' in the film.
* PromotionToParent: Roy gives the Black Bandit a couple of the traits that her father would have, such as a gap in his teeth and Alexandria originally pictures him looking like her father. Alexandria eventually [[spoiler: appears in the story as the Bandit's daughter.]]
* PublicDomainSoundtrack: The second movement Allegretto from Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92. And it is ''awesome''.
* PunnyName: Roy Walker is [[BlackComedy likely paralysed from the waist down.]]
* RageAgainstTheAuthor: Roy's story isn't always a happy one, and Alexandria is very young. It gets especially heart-wrenching when [[spoiler: Roy's increasing depression and its effect on the story reminds her about her house being burnt down and the death of her father]].
* {{Retcon}}: In-story example: The Masked Bandit starts out as a Spaniard who resembles Alexandria's father (and is played by the same actor) due to Roy basing him on her father. She then reveals that her father is dead and asks Roy to make the character speak like he does, at which point Lee Pace starts playing him. Additionally, after Odious kills the Bandit's brother the Bandit swears to destroy "every Spanish thing" in revenge. Cue Alexandria pointing out that the Bandit himself is Spanish and Roy hurriedly insisting that he was actually ''French''.
* RocksFallEveryoneDies: As part of Roy's [[spoiler:CreatorBreakdown]].
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: The entire FiveManBand is on one against Odious.
* RuleOfCool: Justified in the story-within-a-story by being imagined by a child; very much averted outside of it.
* RunningGag: Every time Roy introduces a character, he adds that "X would be the one to kill Governor Odious" with said character giving a SkywardScream as emphasis.
* SceneryPorn: The Movie. It's quite difficult to state just how many inconsequential shots of vast landscapes and beautiful buildings are crammed into this film.
* ScheherezadeGambit: Attempted both by Roy and by Alexandria.
-->'''Alexandria:''' You always stop at the same part, when it's very beautiful and interesting!
* ShoutOut:
** Beneath the colorful coat, Charles Darwin's outfit (white shirt, suspenders, black boots and bowler hat) resembles that of a Droog from ''Film/AClockworkOrange''.
** The ArtShift after [[spoiler: Alexandria falls in the pharmacy, with wooden doctor-puppets taking apart and then reassembling an injured Alexandria doll,]] closely resembles a contextually similar scene in ''Film/{{Frida}}''.
** The film's poster (seen above) alludes to the work of Creator/SalvadorDali, especially his portrait of Creator/MaeWest.
** Clips from ''Film/NeverWeaken'', ''Film/Cops1922'', ''Film/ThreeAges'', ''Film/SteamboatBillJr'' and other silent movies are shown in the final montage.
* SkywardScream: Done by many of the characters in the story-within-the-story.
* StormingTheCastle: The bandits' story reaches its climax with the team storming Odious' palace. [[spoiler:The Masked Bandit and his daughter are the only ones who survive.]].
* StuffBlowingUp: Well, one of the characters in the story-within-the-story is an explosives and ballistics expert.
* SwordCane: The villain has one.
* TagalongKid: Alexandria inserts herself into the story as one of these, filling the role of the Masked Bandit's daughter.
* TakingYouWithMe: The Indian and Luigi. Ka-''boom'' indeed.
* TheTeam:
** TheHero: The Black Bandit.
** TheLancer: The Italian and, at times, The Indian.
** TheSmartGuy: Charles Darwin.
** TheBigGuy: The Indian and Otta Benga.
** TheHeart: [[spoiler:Sister Evelyn]].
** The SixthRanger: The Mystic.
** TeamPet: Wallace the monkey.
** [[spoiler: TagalongKid: Alexandria.]]
* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The trailer spoils a majority of the plot twists including [[spoiler: the fact Roy is initially manipulating Alexandria and eventually proceeds to kill off most of the characters.]]
* TuckAndCover: Otta Benga does this for the little girl.
* TheVoiceless: The Indian only speaks one or two words during the whole movie. He speaks when [[spoiler: he cuts the rope (killing himself and a handful of the mooks), saying "''How!''" (the joke being that he's a movie stereotype Native American Indian in Roy's narration and a from-India-Indian in Alexandria's imagination)]]. Otta Benga is almost this.
* WalkingShirtlessScene: Otta Benga and the Mystic. The latter in particular as his costume is little more than a LoinCloth and, eventually, full-body tattoos.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The Princess's nephew, left behind at the carriage. Justified in that this story is being made up on the fly by the main characters who likely just forgot about him.
* TheWorldIsJustAwesome: Just take in any of the scenery.
* YouKilledMyFather: And brother (the brother was attempting to avenge their father's death). And wife, and butterfly, and... yeah, this is most of the motivation for the main characters, in fact.
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''Googly... googly... googly... begone!''

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The trail spoils a majority of the plot twists including [[spoiler: the fact Roy is initially manipulating Alexandria and eventually proceeds to kill off most of the characters.]]

It is not based on, and [[SimilarlyNamedWorks should not be confused with]], the Creator/AlbertCamus novel of [[Literature/TheFall the same name]]. Nor does it have anything to do with the 2014 [[VideoGame/TheFall videogame]], or with the'' PostPunk band led by Mark E. Smith also called Music/TheFall, or the survival-thriller ''Film/{{Fall}}.

It is not based on, and [[SimilarlyNamedWorks should not be confused with]], the Creator/AlbertCamus novel of [[Literature/TheFall the same name]]. Nor does it have anything to do with the 2014 [[VideoGame/TheFall videogame]], or with the PostPunk band led by Mark E. Smith also called Music/TheFall, or the survival-thriller Film/{{Fall}}.

** TheChick: [[spoiler:Sister Evelyn]].

* KillEmAll: [[spoiler: At the lowest point of his depression, Roy kills off every single character in the most heartbreaking ways possible, while Alexandria begs him to stop. All we see from him are bitter tears and a stoic expression, but Alexandria imagines his alter ego, the Black Bandit, being very visibly shaken by the deaths. The epilogue is charming, though, which softens the blow.]]

It is not based on, and [[SimilarlyNamedWorks should not be confused with]], the Creator/AlbertCamus novel of [[Literature/TheFall the same name]]. Nor does it have anything to do with the 2014 [[VideoGame/TheFall videogame]], or with the PostPunk band led by Mark E. Smith also called Music/TheFall, or the survival-thriller Film/{{Fall2022}}.

It is not based on, and [[SimilarlyNamedWorks should not be confused with]], the Creator/AlbertCamus novel of [[Literature/TheFall the same name]]. Nor does it have anything to do with the 2014 [[VideoGame/TheFall videogame]], or with the PostPunk band led by Mark E. Smith also called Music/TheFall, or the survival-thriller /Film{{Fall2022}}.

It is not based on, and [[SimilarlyNamedWorks should not be confused with]], the Creator/AlbertCamus novel of [[Literature/TheFall the same name]]. Nor does it have anything to do with the 2014 [[VideoGame/TheFall videogame]], or with the PostPunk band led by Mark E. Smith also called Music/TheFall.

* FiveManBand: Trope played to the letter:
** TheHero: The Black Bandit.
** TheLancer: The Italian and, at times, The Indian.
** TheSmartGuy: Charles Darwin.
** TheBigGuy: The Indian and Otta Benga.
** TheChick: [[spoiler:Sister Evelyn]].
** The SixthRanger: The Mystic.
** TeamPet: Wallace the monkey.
** [[spoiler: TagalongKid: Alexandria.]]
* FiveTokenBand: Justified.

A 2006 {{fantasy}} film by Tarsem Singh, based on the 1981 Bulgarian pirate story "Yo Ho Ho". The film took four years to shoot, in 26 locations in over 18 countries, and was funded by Creator/SpikeJonze and Creator/DavidFincher. The trailer [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil spoils]] most of its plot twists.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Done in-universe with gusto with Roy's story, although with some nuances outside as well. In particular, he throws in that Governor Odious is Spanish when it's Otta Benga's turn to have a grudge against his former slavemaster, despite the historical Ota Benga was bought by an American and never had anything to do with Spain. The implication that Spain is a codifier for working black slaves to death is also ironic; while the Spanish Empire did participate in the Atlantic slave trade like most other nations that could afford it, its slavery policies were actually much more humane and flexible than average, to the point that Spanish domains were a favorite haven for fugitive slaves from English or French colonies because they could easily become free citizens there.

* AuthorAppeal: Much of the visuals and mythology are based on Indian culture.

* AdultFear: [[spoiler:A 5-year-old child climbing on shelves. And falling.]]

* CatchPhrase: "Googly Googly".

* ExactWords: [[spoiler:Roy writes to Alexandria to get him Morphine pills, but the 'E' looks like a 3. So not only does she read it as Morphin-3, but also assumed that he only wanted 3 pills and dumped everything else down into the toilet.]]

* ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth: [[spoiler:Wallace chases after a butterfly -- one of the same species that Darwin is looking for -- and gets shot for it.]]

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The film's opening titles sequence is shot in black and white.

-->'''Alexandria:''' This Odious - he bad man?
-->'''Roy:''' Oh ''yeah.''

* HeroicSacrifice: Just about everyone.

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: Darwin's trusty pet monkey Wallace.

* MohsScaleOfViolenceHardness: About a 4, maybe a 5 at max, despite what the R-rating might lead you to believe. There's some mild blood spray when people get shot, but the goriest moment in the film is when [[spoiler:Governor Odious]] is impaled, and that scene is honestly [[BlackComedy more hilarious than disturbing.]]

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The film's opening titles sequence is in shot in black and white.