Peter Greenaway's THE FALLS (1980)

Join us at The Philosophical Research Society to experience a rare screening of the most wryly hilarious and bizarre mockumentary ever made: Peter Greenaway’s legendary experimental pseudo-sci-fi magnum opus THE FALLS (1980)!

A documentary unlike any other, the first feature film by Greenaway – the singularly brilliant Welsh director-writer-painter-video artist perhaps best known for films such as The Draughtman’s Contract, A Zed & Two Noughts, and The Thief, The Cook, His Wife, & Her Lover – is a surreal and sprawling sendup of dryly formal BBC documentaries, steeped in Pythonesque absurdity, impish playfulness, and strange wonder.

Over its epic length (presented with intermissions!) it dazzlingly details 92 case histories of people – all of whose ridiculous surnames begin with the letters F.A.L.L. – affected by the “VIOLENT UNKNOWN EVENT,” or VUE, a mysterious, apocalyptic worldwide incident which killed many and left its survivors with a common set of symptoms related to birds, flying, and bizarre invented languages. Among the symptoms are: mysterious ailments (such as mutations of evolving into an avian-esque form), dreams about water, and becoming obsessed with birds and flight. Many have become gifted in new, strange, before unheard languages, as well. Oh, and they’ve stopped aging too and are immortal (barring injury or disease).

Featuring an incredible score by a young Michael Nyman, music by Brian Eno and a cameo by cult animation legends The Quay Brothers, THE FALLS is arguably the most significant film in Greenaway’s prolific career, standing at a pivotal point in his filmography, poised between his earlier, witty shorts and the unique pleasures of his post-Draughtman’s Contract oeuvre. Greenaway’s debut feature is deliciously fastidious and rendered with grand imagination and a wit that will endear any fan of Douglas Adams (example: in an attempt to to teach her dog to fly, a flight-obsessed VUE survivor pushes her pooch out of an airplane, sending the poor pup plummeting into a Copenhagen playground. She is fined three kroner for “Exercising a dog in a public place without a lead.”)

Get ready to take flight with THE FALLS and join us for a totally one of a kind film experience (and one of our film programmer Alex’s favorite films – it’s his birthday pick!).

Dir. Peter Greenaway, 1980, 185mins – Presented with Intermission, UK, Unrated, Digital.

Special thanks to Emily Russo of Zeitgeist Films.

Please email [email protected] or phone 323-663-2167 with any questions.

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Host or Publisher The Philosophical Research Society