The Falling tells the story of Lydia, the troubled girl at the centre of a mysterious fainting epidemic, who is determined to discover the cause of the malady spreading through her British all-girl school in 1969, a year when the whole world seems poised on the brink of change.
Maisie plays the intense Lydia with newcomer Florence Pugh as her best friend, the beautiful, rebellious Abbie.
Their all-girls school is ruled over by the enigmatic headmistress Miss Alvaro (Monica Dolan) with her deputy, the overly strict Miss Mantel (Greta Scacchi).
It's 1969, and the girls, like the world around them, are in a state of change. Abbie is embracing her sexuality, even sleeping with Lydia's beatnik brother. Lydia, neglected by her agoraphobic mother Eileen (Maxine Peake), has made Abbie her emotional focus. After a shocking tragedy, Lydia, finds herself at the center of an outbreak of a mysterious fainting condition. Before long, the phenomenon spreads throughout the school community and when Lydia’s own symptoms worsen, she rallies against the school’s authorities to find and remove the underlying cause before it’s too late.
Following her films BAFTA-nominated The Alcohol Years, Edge, and the critically acclaimed Dreams of a Life, writer/director Carol Morley presents her skewed and dream-like coming of age story with director of photography Agnès Godard. The Falling is presented by BBC Films and BFI in association with Lipsync Productions, a Cannon and Morley/Independent production in association with Boudica Red, a Carol Morley film. The film was developed with the BFI Film Fund.
The Falling is set for release in 2014.