Successful in her teaching job at a conservative religious college, Camille (Pascale Bussières) looked forward to marrying her adoring, minister boyfriend (Henry Czerny) and settling down to the conventions of family and career. But a chance encounter with a beautiful, irresistibly sensuous young female circus performer named Petra (Rachael Crawford) is about to transform Camille s predictable life into an electrifyingly erotic adventure.
Captivated by Petra s impulsive sexuality and passionately free spirit, Camille is drawn into a world whose existence she never dared imagined: A world of hypnotic sensuality, rapturous self-discovery and exquisite erotic pleasure.
Now, walking an emotional high-wire between the familiar past and the forbidden future, Camille must choose between the love she can t forget… and the desire she can t resist. Throughout Patricia Rozema’s third film, conservatives tangle with liberals, men with women, and heterosexuals with those of more fluid sexual persuasions. Surface tension aside, When Night Is Falling feels more personal than political. Camille (Pascale Bussières) teaches mythology at a Christian college in Toronto. Her fiancé, Martin (Henry Czerny, Clear and Present Danger), is a fellow theologian. Their superior, Reverend DeBoer (David Fox, The Saddest Music in the World), encourages them to marry. When Camille’s dog dies, she neglects to inform Martin. At a laundromat, she meets Petra (Rachael Crawford), a circus performer, who offers support. She also leaves her card, so Camille seeks her out, but when Petra makes a pass, she flees. Petra tries again, so Camille talks her into being friends, but mutual attraction proves too strong to resist. A simplistic reading suggests that the death of a pet can lead to experimentation, except Rozema (I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing) aims for a metaphorical reading rather than a literal one. Though the narrative isn’t autobiographical, she also attended a Calvinist institution (the same one as writer/director Paul Schrader). It’s a testament to her skill that the film feels so fresh, since the storyline echoes Lianna (the academic milieu) and anticipates Tipping the Velvet (the circus angle). It’s also one of the more quotable same-sex love stories of the 1990s. As Martin tells Camille, “Maybe you can imagine more intoxicating options. That’s okay–that’s what imagination’s for.” To Rozema’s heroine, however, fulfillment is for experiencing, not imagining. –Kathleen C. Fennessy
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March 30, 2008
#1
Camille, sexy lips. Petra, down right sexy in her own way. Reminds me of myself. When you really want something you’ll do what you have to do to get. I recommend this movie not only to the gay communication but to whom ever loves good story lines and this movie,”When Night Is Falling” is it. I have seen this movie 3 times and its always like the first. This movie is excellent, the sets, the characters, etc. There need to be more movies like this. This movie gets me in the mood especially the romantic scene when Petra and Camille makes love while the twins are up on the high swing….brilliant! A movie to purchase, to add to my collection of great movies. This is a MUST SEE movie.
March 31, 2008
#2
you can definitely see the parallel btw this movie and “desert hearts”. however, in my opinion, the love story btw Camille and Petra could be more in detail. it was not as passionate as i had expected, everything seems to happen too fast. . . .
March 31, 2008
#3
This film beautifully presents the relationship between two women. Unlike many films in this genre, WNIF leads the viewer convincingly through the mythological terrain of the heart. The pathos and the play are both captured here. Camille and Petra’s feelings are developed in a way that are very accessible to any viewer. Their relationship is contrasted perfectly with Camille’s more traditional past.
March 31, 2008
#4
well, as the others I feel sometimes lot of loneliness in my heart. When I found this movie, it was like a present for me, in fact when I¨m suffering from headache, I take an aspirin and when I feel sad I whatch some of my favorites movies, and “when the night is falling” is the film that help me more by now. As other film’s friend said before this story makes life worth living
March 31, 2008
#5
I think this is a good movie played very well and as noted by other reviewers great cinematography and some humor but it has some minuspoints as well. It misses drama. With this I don’t mean sentimentality but rather the absence of intensity in the plot, it is more of a sketch than a fully colored, worked out storyline and I somehow felt that the movie rushes linearly to a predictable but rather unconvincing end without enough intensity, surprises or twists. As a viewer I just did not get the feeling that the choice (between ‘the love she can’t forget and the desire she can’t resist’) for Camille was a difficult one to make. This has much to do with her boyfriend being just a flat character, who is not very present in the movie. Also the conservative surroundings are altogether not worked out very well: we just see her boyfriend and some members of the school and they just not give enough weight to the balance. And because of the lack of intensity in the conflict and plot line, I must unfortunately conclude (cynical as it may sound) that this is not about real love, but more about ‘attraction’, ‘curiosity’ or ‘experiment’.
In conclusion, I can say that this movie is surely worth the watch, but it is not great or at least it did not move me enough. Actually I’ve watched this movie in tandem with ‘Imagine Me and You’ and yes that movie is the better of the two (more intense, more moving, more satisfying) and I would highly recommend that one also.