The Fall (2024) – review and opinion about the film [Netflix]. Polish “Knives Out”, but without an ounce of talent

An estranged family, torn apart by problems, lies and half-truths, comes to the estate of their recently deceased wealthy uncle to find out who will inherit his estate. But there is a surprise waiting for them there.

On the other hand, Łukasz Sychowicz, responsible for the script, gave us the surprisingly successful Polish version of “The Office.” On the other hand, Mr Silostre Jacquemo, the artistic director who will undoubtedly “be in some way”, is supposed to be a comedy, and I once gave it a full rating of 2/10. So it could have been different.

Add to this the fact that the film has such an obvious resemblance to the Polish film Knives Out, copying such an expressive production that it is literally not the same and at the same time boasts a well thought out and solid plot. Humor and memorable characters are not a simple art. It requires talent, wisdom and vision. In short, “Inheritance” was doomed from the start.

The Fall (2024) – review and opinion about the film [Netflix]. What is this all about?

Uncle Władysław (Jan Peszek) is a former game designer and game show host with his own idea called “Circle of Truth”. In the past, his loved ones loved to spend time together, but since then a lot of water has flowed into the Vistula River. So he comes up with a new game – he’ll pretend to be dead, invite everyone to read the will, and then force them to renew their bonds if they really want to rely on anything. Nice plan, but there is one hitch – Władysław was really murdered, and the killer was among the invited guests…

On paper, the plot doesn’t even look bad; But believe me, this does not translate in any way to the final quality of the film. Let’s start with the fact that it’s not even a crime story, because the identity of the killer is so incredibly irrelevant that they tell us about it right before the end, as if by the way. But the biggest absurdity is the uncle’s body that no one cares about or feels sorry for, and in the end we still get a happy ending. Well, complete absurdity.

Because what we’re really dealing with here is something like a family movie where a family at odds with each other has to learn that the most important thing is to be there for each other, spend time together and have fun. While my uncle’s body slowly cooled, wrapped in a blanket… Who invented it and why was no one from all the producers saying it didn’t make sense, That the plot needs to be rewritten, the jokes need improving, the plot needs improving?

The Fall (2024) – review and opinion about the film [Netflix]. The whole series of absolutely cute characters

The characters are one-dimensional and difficult to like. The film’s central character, who is also the narrator – mainly so that one relevant joke can be included in the film’s conclusion, otherwise this narration serves no purpose – is David (Maciej Sture), a learned, timid, submissive, timid man. A fan of Zinedine Zidane. He has a charming wife who is tired of his gentle persona, Zofia (Gabriela Moscala), intelligent son Henio (Franciszek Sominski), and teenage daughter, Josefina (Jozefina Karnkowski), who loves conspiracy theories. The second family unit is Natalia (Joanna Trzebiescinska, slightly exaggerated here in her famous role of Alutka from “Foster Family”) and her younger boyfriend, Gustau (Piotr Bacsek), and closing the group is Carol (Mateusz Kroll) and his friend… Karol (Piotr Polak). ). Each of these people can be described by a maximum of two characteristics – Carol is afraid of blood and talks pseudo-intellectual nonsense, Carol does not like to touch people, and Natalia writes crime stories and likes to pretend that she has more money than she actually has.

The deceased, Uncle Vladek, also plays a surprisingly large role, regularly speaking to his family through prepared recordings – which also doesn’t make sense, since he was planning from the beginning to reveal that he was alive before the games and frolics began. , but somehow it had to be done in the movie. Adam Furness also appears regularly in the background as his uncle’s butler and loyal friend, but all that can be said about him is that he dresses very authentically. It is a crime to waste an actor with such talent in such a dull role. We also have two policemen (Piotr Sorawski and Albert Osik), and at the end, Rafał Zawiroča, who has not turned down a role recently, appears for a second. The common factor that connects all of these people is the absolute lack of anything that would make them interesting and/or funny characters. I swear, there isn’t a single person in this movie that you could love each other with that would make you smile on screen (because you can forget about the fits of laughter, no matter your comedic taste).

So, “The Fall” is an unentertaining comedy, a crime mystery that’s neither engaging nor even ultimately important, a family film in which everyone is in turn colorless or even hateful. Plus, the entire movie takes place at my uncle’s luxurious villa, which doesn’t even try to pretend it’s not a set, and overall, it’s such a bad movie that watching it exhausted me more than it bruised my sore ribs. Every movement and does not allow me to function normally. In short: I do not recommend it.

Happy holidays to everyone who had their last day of school today!