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After his first appearance at Ebertfest last year with The Cell, Tarsem is back again with the visually stunning The Fall.

Ebert began by quoting his review of the movie by saying “that you might want to see for no other reason than because it exists.” I would completely agree, the movie took four years to film in 28 countries, even though the idea had been in place for over ten years.

The young star, Catinca Untaru, was the main guest of the Q&A, moderated by Nell Minow, the “movie mom,” and Steve Pericope of Ain't It Cool New. They started off taking about the experience of shooting the movie for Catinca.

Although Tarsem originally intended the role be played by a younger boy, when he saw Catinca’s video he was sold. In order to preserve the movie, Tarsem hired a whole new crew who knew nothing about the project and never even told Catinca the story line in order to get her raw reactions. She was even led to believe that Lee Pace, whose character was paralyzed in the movie, was actually paralyzed.

Catinca claimed her first reaction was happiness when she found out he could actually walk, but followed up with, “I was kind of mad because I brought him all these cookies.”

The audience of course loved that, as much as they did many of the ironic and self-reflective moments in the movie. There were many instances where the theater was full of laughter.

Being so young when the movie was being filmed, Catinca claims, “There are many things I don't remember.”

The panels also discussed how many of the film’s moments were changed because of Catinca’s reaction to them. Steve Pericope talked about how the path of the movie changed due to her mistakes, and even how Pace, who she worked with so closely, was as much her director as was Tarsem, who purposely used words she wouldn’t understand. Minow agreed but added that Catinca directed him as well, as he had to react to her and follow the lead.

I’ve heard many times that this movie is so stunning and beautiful, and what makes it unique is that no CGI was used. This myth was put to rest as Pericope explained some minimal CGI was used, but not in the parts one would expect. Minow talked about how she loved the ending, a “shout out to classic movies,” which used no CGI.

The movie was filmed chronologically and you can see the progression as Catinca’s language improves, as her two front teeth grow in. Pericope joked about how Catinca picked up Tarsem’s Indian accent as she was learning English and spending so much time with him.

The R-rating controversy also took place during the Q&A, Minow agreeing with the rating, while some audience members weren’t so sure why it was so. Minnow claimed it was due to the violence and suicide contemplation, and jokingly wondered aloud, “what kind of tortures did the put her [Catinca] through to get her to cry like that in the movie?”

As expected, I enjoyed this movie immensely. As the introduction to the movie claimed, the very sophisticated plot and visuals create a “sense of wonder we all seek at the movies.”