A major achievement in the production of the film "Falling" released in 2006 is that it took four years to shoot, traveled to more than ten countries, and switched more than 60 scenes. The director presented the audience with an extreme dream.
"Falling" mainly tells the story of stuntman Roy's experience when he was hospitalized due to paralysis after he fell off a horse while shooting and was injured. In the hospital he meets the little girl Alexandra, Roy hopes to complete his suicide plan through the little girl. The movie can be divided into two clues, one is the story of the hospital in the movie's reality. One is a fantastical revenge story told by Roy. And these two clues also confirm each other. Roy's narration allows reality to be projected into the fantasy world, so that reality affects the development of fantasy.
The climax of the movie takes place after the fall of the little girl. Alessandro wants to get the medicine for Roy, but falls from the cabinet. This is a grand scene in the movie, with the logo of Roy in the fantasy world. The flag is slowly falling... Roy went to visit Alessandro and told her that in the story, the revenge team was killed one by one, and the "masked thief" was a coward, which actually meant that he was a coward himself. Alexandra shouted, "Don't let him die." At the begging of the little girl, Roy finally got over the difficulty in his heart. He narrated the story, and the masked thief in the story stood up again, and I found my freedom back. This echoes the line in the middle of the story - "This is my story." "It's mine too." Alessandro saves a tired heart by being the story's narrator.
The story seems to have reached the ending that people say "everyone is happy". In reality, Roy returns to the film circle. In the revenge story, Roy leaves gracefully. After Alexandra returns to the farm, he can still receive a message from Roy. These all point to a kind of perfection. However, when we look closely at the ending, we will find a sense of tragedy after that. Alessandro's mother told her that Roy could do stunts that other actors couldn't, such as falling and being beaten. Then there is a long montage in the movie screen, all kinds of falling stunt shots are spliced together, the actor jumps from the mast, from the bridge, from the cliff... Alessandro said: "He was beaten. Now , I also blew kisses to the audience, thank you, thank you, thank you very much." The director continues to wrap up the whole movie from the perspective of a little girl. Roy, who is doing stunts in the girl's world, is a hero, while some adults see it. Come on, that's just some "rubbish" movies.
Nietzsche's tragic aesthetics is to "turn the misery of life into aesthetic pleasure, and turn the tragedy of the individual into the comedy of the world" . The whole film first presents a charming aura in the art - the revenge story in more than 60 venues is the dreamlike appearance. In addition, the world in the eyes of the little girl is actually drawn. For the fantasy appearance throughout the film. And Roy's final choice presents a spirit of Dionysus, and he finally accepts the caprices of life and what he needs to do as a stuntman. The meaning of his shots for the audience is to laugh. The audience will laugh at the antics of the actors, laugh at the character's escape, and Roy accepts all of this.
The film finally pays tribute to stuntmen, comedians, and stuntmen. Their careers, like the movie Roy, are repeating "falls". Aesthetic experience? "Falling" finally points to the upward optimism with the action of "falling", and it is not difficult for us to detect the shadow of Nietzsche's will to power.
*The article was first published on my official account~
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