Release Date – 7th March 2025, Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 44 minutes, Director – Laura Carreira
Portuguese immigrant Aurora (Joana Santos) spends much of her time working as a picker at a fulfilment centre, she wishes for a better job that will allow her more social contact.
I don’t entirely know what it is about On Falling that causes it to click, but whatever it is it’s loud and effective. A key connection is formed with quiet and isolated fulfilment centre picker Aurora (a fantastic Joana Santos), who herself is looking for connection and social contact which her job deprives her from. Only getting brief opportunities to talk to co-workers during breaks and barely seeing her flatmates, in a flat as cramped as her workplaces shelves, due to working nightshifts Aurora wishes for a job that both pays more and allows her more social contact.
We see her struggle, physically and mentally, in the wake of her consistent isolation. During key sequences that could open up doors for her, the camera staying still on her face as she struggles to come up with an answer in a job interview, there’s a worry of both wanting to see her succeed and fearing that things aren’t going well in the moment. The interview scene in question is truly painful, as is the tension of worrying that she’s going to be caught avoiding work in order to make the interview. At the end of the film my only thought was simply hoping that the character will truly be alright in the end.
Feature debut writer-director Laura Carreira understands the subtleties and the quiet, sometimes unnoticeable, details of isolation and loneliness. As does Santos who carries the weight, made heavier by hints of anxiety, of the mental impact on her physical person. Again, full of subtleties but which all add to a greater impact and quiet connection with the film as a whole and the story that it tells. One which to some extent does tell a ‘day-to-day’ story in a ‘slice-of-life’ vein while tackling multiple issues through the natural lens of Aurora and the struggles that she faces. Each in some way could be a contributing factor to her loneliness, and indeed many seem difficult to overcome or change; such as the way she’s undermined and patronised at work or the key theme of the immigrant experience as Portuguese-born Aurora, now living in Scotland, tries to connect with fellow immigrants but gets little opportunity to, or other circumstances in their lives arise.
Scenes which could so easily feel out of place or tacked on for the run-time have just as much power as moments of upfront worry, and at times warmth, or even irritation when Aurora’s hard work is acknowledged by being allowed to pick a chocolate bar from a tray in her boss’ office, because of Santos’ expressions and how she works with Carreira to convey loneliness in such a fantastically empathetic way. It all adds to the detail of the central character and her experiences, and the directions she wishes to take life as her current circumstances seem almost endless.
A wonderfully empathetic depiction of isolation and loneliness this is a strong debut filled with understanding from Laura Carreira, with a brilliant lead turn from Joana Santos who fantastically carries the physical weight of her character’s mental state through the worry, tension and hope we experience for her.
Just A Little Bit Random 