A little bit after this year’s Berlinale, there was was a great deal of buzz surrounding a certain German title that opted for the Croisette instead of a homecoming premiere platform. When numerous trades identified that Berlin-born, German filmmaker Mascha Schilinski was in the mix with her sophomore feature the next question was how did a relative unknown manage to nab the spot? Her feature debut Dark Blue Girl was selected for Berlin’s Perspektive Deutsches Kino sidebar section back in 2017. Themes included isolation, alienation, female agency and identity. Apparently team Thierry Frémaux were floored early on and sent an invite during the Xmas holidays.
Today, we begin the competition of twenty-two films with Sound of Falling (In die Sonne schauen) which moments before being selected by Cannes was going by the more alluring title of ‘The Doctor Says I’ll Be Alright, But I’m Feelin’ Blue’. Production took place all the way back in September of 2023, and essentially the narrative spans one century following four girls—Alma, Erika, Angelika, and Lenka — all from different historical periods whose lives are subtly interconnected. Each spends their youth on the same four-sided farmstead in the Altmark region. As they move through their respective presents, traces of the past gradually emerge. Hanna Heckt leads a vast ensemble here and the answer to what sound occurs when falling is answered early on.
Thierry Frémaux has been proved right to include Mascha Schilinski’s Sound of Falling in competition. With almost half of our rested panel sending in scores, the first comp offering (it’s among the films in comp with the longest runtime) has an average score of 3.5. Of course, this will likely change by a couple of grades – but with notes of Michael Haneke and Lars von Trier this is already a high note.
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