The Fall (2006 film): Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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==Plot==

In 1915 Los Angeles, [[Stunt performer|stuntman]] Roy Walker is hospitalized, bedridden and paralyzed (possibly paralyzedpermanently) after takingjumping off a bridge for a jumpstunt in his first film. He meets Alexandria, a young Romanian-born patient in the hospital who is recovering from a broken arm, and begins to tell her a story about her namesake, [[Alexander the Great]]. Alexandria is told she has to leave, but Roy promises to tell her an epic tale if she returns the next day.

The next morning, as Roy spins his tale of fantasy, Alexandria's imagination brings his characters to life. Roy's tale is about five heroes: a silent Indian warrior, a muscular ex-[[slave]] named [[Ota Benga|Otta Benga]], an Italian explosives expert called Luigi, [[Charles Darwin]] withand ahis pet monkey called, Wallace, and a masked swashbuckling bandit. An evil ruler named Governor Odious has committed an offense against each of the five, whoand they all seek revenge. The heroes are later joined by a sixth hero, a mystic.

Alexandria vividly imagines her friends and people around her appearing as the characters in Roy's story. Although Roy develops affection for Alexandria, he also has an ulterior motive: byto gaining her trust, he trickstrick her into stealing [[morphine]] from the hospital pharmacy. Roy intends to use the morphine to commit [[suicide]] because the woman he loves has left him for the actor for whom he provided the stunt footage. However, Alexandria returns with only three pills. Roy asks what happened to the rest of the pills in the bottle, and Alexandria says she threw all but three of them down the toilet, having mistaken the "E" on the piece of paper Roy gave her for a "3". The stories become a collaborative tale to which Alexandria also contributes. Alexandria herself becomes a character: while Roy is the masked bandit, she is his daughter.

Roy talks Alexandria into stealing a bottle of morphine tablets locked in a fellow patient's cabinet, and then downs it all. He tells her she should leave after he takes them, but he knows she may not obey and may very well witness the death of the man she has come to view as her father. This does not come to pass, as the next morning Roy awakens from his sleep and realizes hethe ispills only alive because his neighboring patient is receiving awere [[placebo|placebos]] ratherand thannot actual morphine. Alexandria, desperate to help Roy, sneaks out of bed to the pharmacy. She climbs onto the cabinet but loses her footing, falls, and sustains a severe head injury. She receives surgery, after which she is visited by Roy, where he confesses his deception. He encouragespleads with Alexandria to ask someone else to end the story, but she insists on hearing Roy's ending. Roy reluctantly begins the rest of the story.

The heroes die one by one, and it seems that Governor Odious will be triumphant. Alexandria becomes increasingly upset, andbut Roy insists, "Itthat it's myhis story to tell." She declares that it is hers too and exertsbegs someRoy influenceto onlet the coursebandit oflive. theRoy tale.finally Theagrees, and the epic tale comes to an end; withGovernor onlyOdious lays dying and the Bandit and his daughter remainingare alive and Governor Odious dyingtogether. ButIn in onea final twist, Roy, who has been crafting the story to manipulate Alexandria and cope with his anger, targetsconfronts the character representing his ex-girlfriend. HeShe blamessays her for orchestratingthat the story's pain and suffering aswere all part of a "test" of the Bandit's love for her. The Bandit rejects her asand anher act ofmanipulations ultimateat triumphlast.

With the story complete, Roy and Alexandria, along with the patients and staff of the hospital, watch a viewing of the finished "flicker"film that Roy appeared in. With everyone laughing, only Roy's smile is broken in confusion when he sees that his life-threatening jump has been edited out of the film as another stuntman jumps instead.

Alexandria's arm eventually heals and she returns to the orange orchard where her family works. Her voice-over reveals that Roy has recovered and is now back at work again. As she talks, a montage of cuts from several of silent films' greatest and most dangerous stunts plays; she imagines all the stuntmen to be Roy.

==Cast==