When Night Is Falling | Rotten Tomatoes (2025)

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Critics Reviews Audience Reviews My Rating Cast & Crew More Like This Photos When Night Is Falling

56%

Tomatometer

18 Reviews

80%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

Camille (Pascale Bussières) is a mythology lecturer at a conservative Christian college. She's engaged to be married and is on the path to a stable career. But, when her dog dies, Camille finds her life unraveling. At a low ebb, she crosses paths with fiery circus performer Petra (Rachael Crawford) in a laundromat, and sparks fly. With Petra pursuing her ardently, Camille experiences a sexual awakening and must confront the daunting prospect of changing her entire existence.

Critics Reviews

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When Night Is Falling | Rotten Tomatoes (1)

Jack Mathews

Los Angeles Times

It is so focused on its own boldness, its dare-to-shock sensuality (the film got an NC-17 from the MPAA, but is being released unrated), that nothing else comes through.

Rated: 1/5

Feb 13, 2001

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When Night Is Falling | Rotten Tomatoes (2)

Alison Macor

Austin Chronicle

Rated: 3/5

Jan 1, 2000

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When Night Is Falling | Rotten Tomatoes (3)

Edward Guthmann

San Francisco Chronicle

Rozema is a fabulist with a strong visual sense, and she creates a distinctive, enclosed world to illustrate Camille's odyssey.

Rated: 3/4

Jan 1, 2000

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When Night Is Falling | Rotten Tomatoes (4)

Marya E. Gates

Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack)

Many of the themes that often reoccur in Rozema's films -- and her life -- are explored at length here, as the film ruminates on myths and Christianity, on human nature vs “moral law,” on acts of performing vs observing.

Aug 16, 2024

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When Night Is Falling | Rotten Tomatoes (5)

Anne Stockwell

The Advocate

More eloquent than many a filmmaker with twice the financial resources, Rozema has created a joyous and entirely original portrait of the heavenly experience of coming out.

Apr 19, 2022

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When Night Is Falling | Rotten Tomatoes (6)

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

The film is intelligent, sensitive and in its own uniquely quiet way quite a delicious treat.

Rated: B+

Oct 2, 2005

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Audience Reviews

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Audience Member If I could grade this movie separately for its first half and second half I would have given 4 stars for the first and 2 stars for the second. The first half successfully sets up an intriguing storyline around the soon-to-be-wed couple Camille and Martin, both professors at a conservative homophobic theology school, whose lives are crashed into by the free-spirited performance artist Petra. Camille and Petra get together, then just as we're waiting for the expected consequences and conflicts, the movie loses its way completely, almost as if someone's dog ate the script after page 60 and they had to make it up from memory. Rated 3/5 Stars • Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member Find this gem on Pluto Tv for free crazy this was released in 1995 and I am now seeing it so scammed the description and saw circus so I just hit play lol happy I watched it movie was pretty cute I was very nervous tho I truly thought miss Camille wasn't gonna end up with Petra because homegirl had her moments where I was like "omg if you don't just accept her love already damn it "lol but I was happy with the ending I would recommend anyone to watch it very cute couple wish they dated in real life Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/10/23 Full Review Audience Member One of my absolute favorite films. Beautiful story. Interesting relationship between the women. I keep this film a secret to many and sometimes to myself just so I don't over saturate. Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Audience Member the actings a bit cardboard but story and sex scenes are hot! plus trapeze artidts are fierce Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review Audience Member intrigue and passion Rated 3/5 Stars • Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Want to own this movie. Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Read all reviews

When Night Is Falling

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Cast & Crew

Patricia Rozema Director Pascale Bussières Camille Baker Rachael Crawford Petra Henry Czerny Martin David Fox Reverend DeBoer Tracy Wright Tory

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When Night Is Falling

When Night Is Falling (1995)

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Synopsis Camille (Pascale Bussières) is a mythology lecturer at a conservative Christian college. She's engaged to be married and is on the path to a stable career. But, when her dog dies, Camille finds her life unraveling. At a low ebb, she crosses paths with fiery circus performer Petra (Rachael Crawford) in a laundromat, and sparks fly. With Petra pursuing her ardently, Camille experiences a sexual awakening and must confront the daunting prospect of changing her entire existence.

Director: Patricia Rozema
Producer: Barbara Tranter
Screenwriter: Patricia Rozema
Distributor: October Films
Production Co: Crucial Pictures
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, LGBTQ+
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 17, 1995, Original
Release Date (Streaming): May 14, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $786.0K
Runtime: 1h 34m
Sound Mix: Surround