Glasgow Film Festival 2025 – On Falling ★★★★

Released: 7 March 2025

Director: Laura Carreira

Starring: Joana Santos, Piotr Sikora

Whether it be the political spectrum, or mainstream media. We are sadly no strangers to it. The dehumanisation and othering of migrants is a pesky pandemic all of its own, a slow death of the fragile reserves of decent people in a grubby bid to eek out every last bit of profit at their expense. Money isn’t everything, but what’s the price tag on the internal human cost? Your ability to communicate seemingly modest aspirations. Expressing your basic wants and needs. Once someone tries to penetrate those emotional defences built up. Just how much pain is stored behind that melancholic facade?

Its title implies a spiral, only Laura Carreira’s ‘On Falling’ is the kind of thoughtful and vital social-realism that should stoke an uprising.

An initial, perhaps intentional wave of puffer jackets and beanie hats, mirroring the chilly reception these people tend to be greeted with. Amongst the huddle we find the Portuguese-born Aurora (Joana Santos), a timid well-mannered figure entering the vast confines of an Edinburgh warehouse as a picker, which only contradicts with the distinct lack of opportunities since moving. Armed with a barcode scanner that steadily beeps away, there’s an evident hesitancy in Aurora to experience life in a manner that quickens her own pulse.

Whether it’s the drab workplace or through the melting pot of different cultures within her flat share. Aurora’s day-to-day interactions feel clipped, laced with a growing unease at the spontaneous acts of kindness aimed towards her (Piotra Sikora’s charming Pole Kris a primary source), knowing she’s in little position to equalise it. Pinning hopes on a role in social care to uplift her income and long-term prospects, but is Aurora still in need of genuine care herself before this potential leap?

In what could easily be an extreme depiction of destitution. What sets ‘On Falling’ apart is its on the edge scenario that many in the UK currently find wholly relatable, which is one sudden crisis can leave you paralysed with no safety net. If prolonged, it often leaves you increasingly withdrawn from the world around you. Sure, we get the exploitative, condescending tones of business higher-ups, whose rhetoric is far removed from reality too. But director Laura Carreira always keeps a steely focus on the personal stresses as well as psychological consequences, with her sensitive observations proving remarkably astute.

Eerie silences as Aurora alongside fellow staff scraping by on minimum wage are stunned in disbelief, as they are actively encouraged to applaud their hard work and accept a meagre cake as appreciation, only to be subjected to a barrage of profit talk. The sickly, cheerful nature in how public tours of the warehouse are conducted, misleading this line of work as fulfilling that comes across as poverty porn. ‘On Falling’ makes the point loud and clear. People like Aurora show signs of damage in their attempts to survive, but it’s the system that should be dismantled to let them truly thrive.

It’s quite apt in one scene, that we see Aurora test eye shadow palettes. Because the wealth of different shades Joana Santos brings to this staggering performance, is predominantly through such telling looks. Making her eventual emotional outpouring through dialogue all the more devastating, as she struggles to articulate what kind of person she is. Solidifying how a rather disconnected work environment, can take away your spirit and sense of identity.

Deeply humanistic in the face of soulless business practices. ‘On Falling’ may be littered with feelings of isolation, yet the stark themes of Laura Carreira’s quietly stunning debut will undoubtedly draw profound commonality.