Sound of Falling — NYFF Review

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.