''On Falling'' is a 2024

social realist Social realism is work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers, filmmakers and some musicians that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structures ...

drama film, written and directed by Laura Carreira and starring Joana Santos. A British-Portuguese co-production, the film is Carreira's debut feature.

Plot

Set in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, the plot follows the plight of Portuguese immigrant and warehouse worker Aurora, trapped in a life governed by wage slavery and social isolation and its repercussions, leading to her emotional breakdown.

Production

The film is a British-Portuguese co-production by Sixteen Films and Bro Cinema, and it had support from

BFI The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, d ...

BBC Film BBC Film (formerly BBC Films) is the feature film-making arm of the BBC. It was founded on 18 June 1990, and has produced or co-produced some of the most successful British films of recent years, including ''Truly, Madly, Deeply (film), Truly, ...

Screen Scotland The Moving Image Archive is a collection of Scottish film and video recordings at the National Library of Scotland, held at Kelvin Hall in Glasgow, Scotland. There are over 46,000 items within the collection, and over 2,600 of these are publicly a ...

and . It was the feature film debut for Carreira, previously known for her shorts ''The Shift'' and ''Red Hill''.

Release

''On Falling'' had its world premiere at the

2024 Toronto International Film Festival The 49th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 5–15, 2024. The festival opened with David Gordon Green's film ''Nutcrackers (film), Nutcrackers'', and closed with Rebel Wilson's directorial debut film ''The Deb (fil ...

as part of its Discovery programme. It was presented at the

72nd San Sebastián International Film Festival The 72nd San Sebastián International Film Festival took place from 20 to 28 September 2024 in San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, Spain. Background A restored 4K version of Montxo Armendariz's film ''Tasio'' (which premiered at the 1984 San Sebastián ...

on 24 September 2024, in competition for the

Golden Shell The Golden Shell (; ) is the highest prize given to a competing film at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. It was introduced in 1957. In 1953 and 1954, the highest prize had been called the Gran Premio. In 1955 and 1956 it was replace ...

; Carreira took the award for Best Director (ex-aequo) at the festival. It featured in the First Feature Competition of the

2024 BFI London Film Festival The 68th BFI London Film Festival was a film festival that took place from 9–20 October 2024. The competition films were announced on 29 August 2024 while the films for the galas and the strands were revealed on 4 September 2024. Steve McQueen ...

. where it was awarded the Sutherland prize for Best First Feature. Conic acquired UK and Ireland distribution rights, and released it theatrically on 7 March 2025. It also landed a distributor in the Benelux (Vedette), former Yugoslavia (MCF), Greece (Cinobo), Middle East (Teleview), Spain ( Vértigo), and Switzerland (Frenetic).

Reception

Critical response

Peter Bradshaw Peter Nicholas Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire'' magazine. Early life and education Bradshaw was educat ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, calling it "a very impressive debut". Matthew Joseph Jenner of ''

International Cinephile Society The International Cinephile Society is an online organization of professional film critics and journalists worldwide. It was founded in 2003 and, has approximately 170 members—among them are Mike D'Angelo, Justin Chang (''Los Angeles Times'') ...

'' rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, writing that it "conveys a very clear message and delivers it with genuine affection and attention to detail, which is important for a story that carries such resonance". Fionnuala Halligan of ''

ScreenDaily ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned ''Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involve ...

'' pointed out how the film grows to become "an intense, enveloping experience". Sophie Monks Kaufman of '' IndieWire'' gave the film an 'A-' rating, deeming it to be "far better than anything living-political-legend Loach made during the final innings of his career". David Katz of ''

Cineuropa Cineuropa is an online information portal dedicated to the promotion of European cinema. It publishes daily news, reviews, interviews, and industry reports and maintains a database of information. It is available in four languages: English, Fre ...

'' declared the film "laudably a protest film clamouring for a better way of life, but it still evokes a story's first act mistaken for a whole feature".

Accolades

References

External links

* {{authority control Films set in Glasgow 2024 drama films 2024 films 2020s Portuguese films 2020s British films British drama films BBC Film films British Film Institute films Portuguese drama films 2024 directorial debut films 2020s English-language films 2020s Portuguese-language films Films about social realism Films about immigration to the United Kingdom