The Fall (2006)

This was not a very accurate adaptation of the book. I don't remember Camus having anything about a little girl int he hospital. Or about a Hollywood stuntman. Wait, what? This isn't based on Albert Camus' classic work of Existential literature?
This movie is odd. I don't mean so much about the story, but the way that it was told, particularly the pacing. It comes in at 117 minutes, and to be honest by about minutes 62 or 63 (yes I did check the running time at this point) you're thinking to yourself, "come on, get to the point, or at least show me some direction." This film is a classic story-within-a-story. They devote just about half the time to watching Alexandria, the little girl, and how she interacts with her world, particularly with Roy, the aforementioned Hollywood stuntman, and the other half of the time in the story that Roy is telling Alexandria. You figure out pretty quickly, even though Alexandria doesn't, that Roy has ulterior motives. And they ain't good motives, but nothing towards Alexandria, but manipulating her into stealing morphine for him so he can commit suicide. Ya. Not a happy movie.
The film is set during the silent movie era in Los Angeles. I'm not too familiar with this time period, but it looked authentic to my eye. The movie touches on classism and bigotry between the white Americans and the immigrant farm laborers but in a very oblique manner. I thought this element should have been stronger or removed entirely. It could have been very interesting, but wasn't given a chance.
This movie is too long. It spends too much time with each element. I think this should have been a movie about a depressed man and the little girl that touches his life. The tale that he tells her should have been cut in half timewise. Or alternatively, they should have made the story Roy tells longer and cut out most of the stuff in L.A. Maybe they should have just made two movies?
This isn't a bad movie, but neither is it a good movie. There is so much potential. Both premises are interesting. All the acting is top notch. The problem is the lack of focus, and that is a pretty big problem.

The Fall on IMDb