Mascha Schilinski's Sound of Falling follows four girls and young women living on the same farm in Germany's Altmark across different decades: Alma in the 1910s, Erika in the 1940s, Angelika in the 1980s and Nelly in the present. Anyone expecting a conventional family chronicle will find something deliberately different.
The periods flow into one another rather than proceeding in a neat sequence. Memories, looks, sounds and recurring motifs move between generations. The farm almost becomes the central character, a place retaining things its inhabitants cannot consciously know. That is the film's great strength. It makes the past felt rather than explaining it.
Fabian Gamper's camera works with a narrow frame, blurred images, openings, doors and borders. These are not nostalgic decorations; they reinforce subjective perception. The unusually physical sound design gives cracking, breathing, animals, water and spaces an active role in connecting the periods. Evelyn Rack's editing strengthens those links. Perception carries more of the story than dialogue does.
Hanna Heckt, Lea Drinda, Lena Urzendowsky and Zoë Baier do not play four versions of the same figure. Each period has its own rhythm, restrictions and relationship to closeness, shame, desire and fear. Yet experiences seem to pass between them even when nobody speaks about them. Schilinski generally leaves that idea open enough to avoid turning it into a simple message. Small absurd and macabre moments also relieve the weight without mocking the women or their experiences.
Accessibility is the price. The 149-minute length, constant shifts in time and refusal of clear explanations demand attention. Some images are so carefully composed and heavy with meaning that the film risks displaying its own artistry. Viewers seeking a clear through-line or conventional resolution may find it mannered or unnecessarily closed.
What works nevertheless outweighs those difficulties. The film has a language of its own, strong performers and an atmosphere independent of cheap effects. Camera, editing and sound make time itself part of the subject. Sound of Falling is demanding and certainly not casual viewing, but its formal commitment makes it one of the most unusual German films of recent years. I give it 8.5 out of 10.