Before the Fall, a gay re-imagining of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, will be available online May 30, 2017.
It is the first gay-themed film shot in Appalachia, is a Washington House, LLC production.
In this inverted version of the classic story, Elizabeth Bennet, now reimagined as the male character Ben Bennett (Ethan Sharrett), is a dashing attorney at the top of the genteel social set in southern Virginia. This placid existence is turned upside down when the rough-hewn Lee Darcy (Chase Conner) comes to town. Lee is a brooding, beaten-down welder with a secret he tries to drink away. After an altercation with his girlfriend, Lee is wrongfully charged with domestic abuse. Ben inadvertently insults Lee at the courthouse and the two men form a strong dislike for each other. This awkward situation is made worse when the two are repeatedly forced to encounter one another in their close-knit town. As the friends around them struggle through romantic misunderstandings, Ben discovers that he has a secret of his own – he has fallen in love with Lee.
“Before the Fall is an extraordinarily beautiful film… immensely romantic and wonderfully constructed… so ambitious and admirable that you’ll find yourself surrendering to the film’s romantic spirit and complete and utter charm.” – Richard Propes “The Independent Critic”
“Fans of the novel find themselves awash in a sea of contradictory characters and situations, a chimeric scope which seems to turn the novel, its characters, and its situations inside out. This works to create a new experience of the familiar work.” – Andrea Press, Professor of Media Studies and Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia, former Executive Director of the Virginia Film Festival.
