Falling

No safety net . . .
This Austrian film presents a day in the life of five 30-something women (plus a sullen teenager), all it seems on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Each of them is single, and one of them is pregnant. Former schoolgirl friends, they gather for the funeral of a teacher, who it turns out has had romantic attachments to two or more of them. A wedding celebration provides diversion from grieving - grieving chiefly over how the freedom they once felt as school girls has left them bereft emotionally, as they leave youth behind.

There are flashbacks to their youthful voices singing American folk ballads and songs ("We Shall Overcome") and flash-forwards to still images of plot turns still to come. An evening at a dance club called "Brooklyn" becomes an occasion for heavy drinking and topless dancing, plus brief intimate interludes with the bridegroom, who has all the charm of a pony-tailed viper. There's a lot of talk, but much that might reveal the private hell each of them...

entertaining
enjoyed watching five ladies trying to find their way through life, like the rest of us. it is nice to see another country's culture.



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