Sound of Falling (2025): Mascha Schilinski’s Grim German Tale of Four Generations of Abused Girls(Cannes Fest 2025)

Cannes Film Fest 2025: Best Films

Mascha Schilinski co-wrote and directed Sound of Falling, a thematically grim, visually exquisite drama that follows the abuse of four generations of girls who are connected by having lived in the same farm in the Altmark.

World premiering in the main competition of the 78th Cannes Film Fest, it was the first film by a German female in competition since Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann in 2016.

Grade: A- (**** out of *****)

Sound of Falling
German poster

The intricately structured film follows four girls—Alma, Erika, Angelika, and Lenka—who belong to different historical periods, but whose lives are subtly interconnected.

Each of the women spends her youth on the same farmstead in the Altmark region. As they move through their respective experiences at present, traces of the past gradually emerge to cumulatively effect.

Schilinski and Louise Peter were inspired to write the film after spending a summer in rural Germany. After seeing a photo of three women from 1920, one begins imagining what the other women’s lives were like.

Schilinski recalled: “As we went through the rooms of the farmhouse, we could sense the centuries. It brought up a question I’ve had since childhood. ‘What happened between these walls in the past? Who has sat right in the spot where I’m now sitting? What fates played out here? What did the people who lived here experience and feel?'”

The script was developed over three years under the title “The Doctor Says I’ll Be Alright, But I’m Feelin’ Blue,” then changed to “Staring at the Sun,” before finally unfolding as Sound of Falling, a subtler, more accurate title.

For visual reference, the director took inspiration from the photography work of the famous artist, Francesca Woodman.

Over 1,400 girls auditioned for the four main characters. The team searched for girls whose faces could represent the specific time period. That criterion meant that the casting process spanned over the course of a year, resulting in an ensemble that comprises both experienced and less so actors.

The film walks a fine line between being ambitious and pretentious, sprawling yet intimate, yet the overall impact is observing an art film, defined by audacious perspective and ethereal if unnerving brilliance.

The women share real but unspoken traumas that are visited upon (or transmitted to) them, from one generation to the next.

The underdevelopment of the characters may be a result of having to contain too many roles for one feature, which runs two and a half hours. (I will not be surprised if the tale would be turned into TV series, based on of its richly dense text).

It may be unfair to suggest that what’s missing is a probe into the systemic patriarchy and toxic masculinity; the story is full of fear and sadness. What made the women suffer in silence for so long? Were other family members of aware of the women’s abuses and hardships and just stood there and observed in silence?

Even so, as a work of thrilling ambition, and astonishing control of tone, Sound of Falling announces the arrival of a talent of considerable note,

Cast

Hanna Heckt [de] as Alma
Lena Urzendowsky [de] as Angelika
Laeni Geiseler as Lenka
Susanne Wuest as Emma
Luise Heyer as Christa
Lea Drinda [de] as Erika
Florian Geißelmann [de] as Rainer
Greta Krämer as Lia
Claudia Geisler-Bading [de] as Irm
Zoë Baier as Nelly
Konstantin Lindhorst [de] as Uwe
Luzia Oppermann [de] as Trudi
Gode Benedix [de] as Max
Filip Schnack [de] as Fritz
Martin Rother [it] as older Fritz
Andreas Anke [de] as Albat
Liane Düsterhöft [de] as Frieda
Lucas Prisor as Hannes
Ninel Geiger as Kaya
Helena Lüer as Gerti
Anastasia Cherepakha as Hedda
Bärbel Schwarz [de] as Berta