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Although The Falls is Peter Greenaway's first feature film, and a long one at
over three hours, its character is very much in tune with the shorts that
preceded it. In fact, the use of the list of 92 sufferers from the 'Violent
Unknown Event' (VUE) allows Greenaway, in effect, to combine 92 short films into
one long one; he himself went as far as to describe these as 92 different types
of films.
As with Greenaway's earlier work, the literal voices of the film are largely
provided by narrators, one of whom, Colin Cantlie, was a colleague of
Greenaway's at the Central Office of Information. Having made films at the COI,
Greenaway was now almost parodying them in his exploration of the documentary
form, a process that seems to reach its zenith with The Falls.
Although the film is divided into sections, certain themes (birds, death,
jokes) and even names and characters cross between them. The effect is to
suggest that some larger story exists within the cracks, with the onus on the
viewer to piece this together. Even within each biography the viewer must
actively interpret the narration, titles, drawings and archival film to create
their own sense of that which is being told. Here Greenaway reveals the
acknowledged influence of the Canadian experimental filmmaker, Hollis Frampton,
whose films work in a directly similar way.
Certain sections of the film hint at autobiographical details connected to
Greenaway himself. We are told that Appropinquo Fallcatti wrote ecological
dramas and through their success was able to work full time on a project
connected to the BFI, here referred to as the Bird's Facilities Industry, rather
than the British Film Institute (which funded The Falls). Similarly, an H.E.
Carter is frequently referred to as a filmmaker who provides 'dream samples' for
the VUE catalogue. The films attributed to Carter provide the more lyrical
moments in The Falls, and are invariably made up of footage shot by Greenaway
for earlier projects, for example, the extracts from the film Water. Other autobiographical
suggestions lie with Casternarm Fallast, who wishes to make an opera using the
names of 92 unusual birds. The number 92 determines the number of biographies in
the The Falls, but is also important in Peter Greenaway's multi-media project,
The Tulse Luper Suitcases, of which, again, there are 92.
William Fowler *This film is included in the BFI DVD compilation 'The Early Films of Peter Greenaway Volume 2'.
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1. Introduction/Orchard Falla (2:45)
