Sound of Falling — NYFF Review
Source: Mubi
Mascha Schilinski’s Cannes Jury Prize-winning Sound of Falling is simultaneously sprawling yet incredibly intimate. It truly feels like traveling through time and inhabiting multiple lives. The film is set at a farmhouse in the Altmark region of Germany and follows the lives of four girls who lived there during distinct time periods. Alma (Hanna Heckt) lived there shortly before World War I. The farmhouse was Erika’s (Lea Drinda) home at the end of World War II. Angelika (Lena Urzendowsky) called the house her home in the 1980s. Lastly, Lenka’s (Laeni Geiseler) story is set in the present. Despite their different circumstances, there are surprisingly similarities that each girl shares. Sound of Falling is a haunting, beautiful film that feels poetic and almost impressionistic in its storytelling as it weaves in and out of each girl’s unique story.
Source: Mubi
By placing these girls’ inner lives against the backdrop of shifting historical moments, Schilinski explores how private experiences of love, loss, and mortality intersect with the invisible weight of history. The house becomes a silent witness to Germany’s turbulent 20th century, its walls absorbing the traumas and dreams of those who pass through. It beautifully captures how ephemeral life is, as each of the girls’ lives begins and ends, yet the house remains standing.
Sound of Falling captures how there are certain aspects of being human that we all inevitably share, regardless of our family or historical context. Despite living in different time periods, the girls have more in common than one would expect. For example, early in the film, Erika ties up one of her legs and walks with crutches to better understand what it feels like to lose a limb. During her time, it was common for boys to be injured to avoid being sent to war. Meanwhile, Alma displays the same morbid curiosity when she sees an image of her late grandmother, who bears a striking resemblance to her. When no one is around, she recreates the same pose to see how it feels. Even Angelika exhibits this preoccupation with death, lamenting how she can will her legs to move, but she cannot make her heart stop. No matter what year these girls are living in, there’s something fundamentally human about this fixation and fascination with death.
The camera floats through all the different periods in a way that feels personal yet voyeuristic, whether it’s an eye-level shot peering through keyholes or lurking around a corner. Sometimes the POV shots make it feel as though we’re one of the girls. Other times, we feel like a fly buzzing through the house, observing but unable to interact. At times, the gorgeous imagery feels like a Renaissance painting. At others, it feels like authentic home movie footage. The stunning cinematography is accompanied by soul-stirring voiceovers, letting us understand each girl’s deeply personal thoughts and feelings. The sound design completely immerses us in their worlds.
Source: Mubi
The stunning visuals are underscored by soul-stirring voiceovers that allow us access to each girl’s most private thoughts, often musing on life, longing, and mortality. The meticulous sound design envelops us in their worlds: creaking floorboards, rustling leaves, and distant whispers echo through the farmhouse like remnants of previous lives. An eerie droning sound accompanies scene transitions where the camera pulls away, allowing us to see the girls from overhead. This makes it feel as though we, the audience, are spirits inhabiting the farmhouse walls.
The way the film remains anchored to the same house through the decades calls to mind Robert Zemeckis’ Here, but its tone and subject matter are much closer to Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides. Like Coppola’s film, Sound of Falling embodies a dreamlike melancholy, with each girl drawn to the idea of death in a way that’s both curious and contemplative. Though the girls would never have been able to meet, the film conveys an uncanny sense of continuity, as if the ghost of each girl lingers in the house’s walls like a phantom limb. While reflecting on an amputee’s circumstances, one of the girls remarks, “It’s funny how something can hurt that’s no longer there.” Even though the previous girls are no longer there, their hurt can still be felt like an impression from a ghost.
Sound of Falling is less concerned with linear narrative than with emotional resonance and temporal texture, offering a rich tapestry of interwoven vignettes. It invites the viewer to drift through time, to listen closely to the whispers of the past, and to inhabit the spaces where memory, history, and imagination intertwine.
Sound of Falling premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2025. It had its U.S. premiere at NYFF. The film will be distributed by Mubi, but no official release date for the U.S. has been announced yet.
