‘Falling Into Place’: Hamburg Review

Dir/scr: Aylin Tezel.  Germany/UK. 2023. 113mins

Taking a chance on love is a lot harder than it initially appears in Falling Into Place. The first directorial feature from actress Aylin Tezel begins as a flirty, meet-cute romance but darkens into a more complex examination of needing to confront your own demons before being in any state to contemplate loving someone else. This melancholy affair could charm the arthouse audiences who embraced the likes of Harry Wootliff’s Only You (2018).

Tezel displays confidence in her material

Recently seen in television drama Unbroken (2021) and Charlotte Regan’s Scrapper (2023), Tezel is writer, director and star of Falling Into Place. She begins the tale as a woman and a man arrive on Skye in Scotland; both are seen to be running away from themselves. Theatre set designer Kira (Tezel) is in flight from a failed three-year relationship with actor Aidan (Rory Fleck Byrne). Ian (Chris Fulton) is the prodigal son returning to a family home he would rather avoid, an ailing father and a mysterious sister he is equally reluctant to visit. There is a majestic desolation to the wintry Skye locations that provides much in the way of atmosphere. The gnarled trees, boggy hillsides and snow-covered mountains add to the feeling of remoteness but also create a bubble, distancing Kira and Ian from their daily lives.

It is inevitable that the two should meet, and their encounter has a giddiness marked by swirling handheld camerawork, drunken challenges on a deserted midnight street and spry bantering that serves as foreplay. Chris Fulton’s Ian is a glib charmer, acting on impulse and brimming with confidence. Tezel’s Kira is more circumspect, almost standing apart to observe herself and how she reacts to his overtures. They make a cute couple and, as they walk, chat and hang out together, the film starts to feel like Before Sunrise. 

The discovery that Ian has a girlfriend, and that he reminds Kira of her ex, cools the initial ardour. They part, each with the lingering sense that they need to break the patterns of behaviour that have lumbered them with so much emotional baggage.

The second half of the film takes place in a bustling London, as Tezel starts to reveals more of the fragility at the heart of both characters. The opposite of the poetic solitude possible in Skye, London is all hustle and struggle. Ian is an aspiring musician going nowhere fast. Kira is still waiting for her big break in the theatre. The characters rarely see daylight. Their stories unfold in dimly-lit pubs and clubs, misty days and weary homeward journeys in the first glimmer of dawn.

Falling Into Place provides a great showcase for the lead actors. Ian is less endearing with his girlfriend Emily (Alexandra Dowling), allowing Fulton to show some range as his blithe spirit is replaced by a short-temper and ugly frustrations. Kira is also revealed as a much more vulnerable figure.The focus on the two central characters does come at the expense of the supporting figures, with both Emily and Aidan feeling sketchy. Anna Russell-Martin does, however, bring some spark to her few scenes as Ian’s sister Annie.

Tezel displays confidence in her material, spending time lingering over meaningful images; a couple tucked together in bed, a carefree moment flopped down on the hills of Skye, a slow dance in the middle of the street. The soundtrack is filled with dreamy, soulful songs that almost tip the film into being a musical drama along the lines of John Carney’s Once (2007). A ittle too long and reliant on a coincidence or two to advance the plot, Falling Into Place still proves a heartfelt tale of thirtysomething love in which the prevailing gloom ultimately leads towards the light.