The apartment building in György Pálfi’s Free Fall boasts seven floors, but not quite seven stories. In the opening scene, an unhappy woman (Piroska Molnár) steps off the roof but doesn’t die when she hits the pavement. As she limps her way back upstairs, Pálfi (Taxidermia) takes us into each of her neighbours’ apartments, revealing darkly comic and surreal glimpses into modern life. There is the gynaecologist’s office where a patient braces herself for a sort of reverse childbirth; the dinner party at which a wealthy socialite presents his young (and naked) fiancée; and the household where only the family’s young son can see the metaphorical elephant in the room.
It’s thrilling to see a director in such clear command of the cinematic medium operating in such a playfully stylized way. And though the individual episodes don’t appear to be making an especially profound statement, the project calls for an enormous ensemble which packs a damning collective attack on Pálfi’s countrymen.
Peter Debruge
Variety
With the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary
Please note that the festival is for over 18s only
