Tale of the Age of Enlightenment The film did not live up to expectations. After the touching "Labyrinth of the Faun" I wanted to see the same catchy story, telling about the feat and miracle.
But in Roy’s story, we have a series of characters united by the idea that the title indicates. The Fall is not only the fall of a stuntman, but also decline, death, death. Slightly embellishing the images of the five heroes for the girl, Roy himself knows perfectly well that some of his supermen are completely real prototypes. Terrorist Luigi Luckeni, a notorious murderer of aristocrats, died in prison. Pygmy Otto Benga (and in the film just a giant), for years lived in the New York zoo as an exhibit, later shot himself. Finally, Charles Darwin, who loves everything alive in the film and wears a chic fur coat made of rare fur. His poor monkey in the film believes that death is a natural process, and therefore to die for her would be happiness.
I do not want to generalize too much, but the director creates a heroic epic of the Enlightenment, instantly discrediting it - all the demigods will sooner or later die.
And in the myth-making gloss of real people, the sultry-aggressive to the exhaustion of the viewer, the visual series of Roy’s story is a clear indication of the birth of Hollywood with all its Batmen.
In fact, Roy himself is ready to die. Hope appears as a little girl, Alexandria. No matter how pathetic the director may play this card, there is no salvation in Alexandria. She's just very small. Death is bad for her, and that’s where it ends. Let’s say that scene (in Tarsem’s words, his favorite scene) where a girl steals a chapel wrapper and brings Roy. When asked if she wants to save his soul, we see a complete misunderstanding of the child. Tarsem himself noted that the little actress really did not understand the meaning of the question. A girl from Romania, who does not speak English, has a long time to explain what the words soul or spirit mean.
Deep down, the girl realizes that Roy himself makes up the story, and all the charm of the fairy tale as reality disappears. In the final scene, we see children fascinated by a silent trick movie. Alexandria knows it's just Roy's tricks. Cinema - this surrogate of a fairy tale - is just a small deception, and there is nothing fabulous there.
5 out of 10
Original