Conservative Christian college teacher Camille meets unrestrained circus performer, Petra. The women fall in love, and Camille must decide between marrying her longtime boyfriend and becoming co-chaplain of the college, or running off to join the circus and being with Petra.

When Night is Falling has dreamlike, sensual imagery and overly obvious religious and moral conflicts. This combination doesn’t make for a strong film, but it does have very strong and enthusiastic supporters. Women either rave about this film for its raw, sensual beauty and passion, or it leaves them cold and complaining about the disjointed story and unintentionally humorous dialogue.

When Night Is Falling
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Movie Description
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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