Warning: This story contains spoilers for “Find Me Falling.”
“Find Me Falling” is a rom-com with “an edge,” according to its writer-director Stelana Kliris. So, does it have a happy ending?
Set on the island of Cyprus, the movie follows a famous rocker who retreats from the public eye after his album flopped.
As the film goes on, it becomes clear that John Allman’s (Harry Connick Jr.) connection to the island runs deeper than wanting a simple getaway.
Read on to find out what happens at the end of “Find Me Falling,” and what to know about a potential sequel.
What happens in ‘Find Me Falling’?
John Allman’s best days as a rock star are behind him. His biggest hit, “Girl on the Beach,” was years ago, and his comeback album was so much of a failure that he decided to abscond to Cyprus.
The first of many surprises happens when John learns he got a good price on his small cliffside shack because it’s located next to a cliff where, as the police chief informs him, people often take their own lives.
Kliris says that plot idea came from reading about a place in Sydney where several suicides have occurred.
“There was this very kind man who used to live there, and he saved many lives because he used to invite people in for tea,” she says. “And I just thought, ‘What would happen if it was somebody who didn’t want to be around people and didn’t want to have to deal with with other human beings at the center?'”
The theme ended up being a device to “facilitate human connection,” but the director admits there were times she started questioning, “What was I thinking, trying to combine this topic with with a romantic comedy?”
This is the first challenge to John’s curmudgeon exterior — but not the last. A rock star in the rest of the world, he gets drawn into the tight-knit community of his new town and is treated like a local, especially by the police chief, Captain Manoli (Tony Demetriou).
Manoli, against John’s will, introduces him to all his friends. Then, John sees Sia (Agni Scott), his lost love and inspiration for “Girl on the Beach,” posing as the potential reason he came back to Cyprus.
Shocked and captivated by each other’s presence, John falls back into the arms of Sia, who is now the “island’s best doctor.” But Sia is wary of opening up to John, since she has secrets of her own.
Meanwhile, John is also getting to know a taverna singer, Melina (Ali Fumiko Whitney), who dreams of leaving Cyprus but balks at actually going, and instead works at her family’s grocery store.
Together, they brainstorm music and he shows her his new song, “Find Me Falling.”
When Sia comes to John’s for dinner and finds Melina cooking, she’s in shock — and so is John. Melina is Sia’s daughter and John does the math, putting together he must be her father.
After this surprising revelation, Sia reveals to John that she intended on telling him about the pregnancy. (While never explicitly spelled out, Sia got pregnant during their time together on the island when John was visiting as a young man.) However, she had changed her mind when she went to a concert in New York and saw him surrounded by women backstage.
“I didn’t want to raise our child like that,” Sia says.
This underlines her decision to stay in Cyprus and pursue her own career, rather than follow his. “I didn’t want to give up my dreams just to follow yours,” she tells John.
Then, while performing onstage together, John impulsively tells Melina — and everyone else in attendance — that he’s her father.
How does ‘Find Me Falling’ end?
After all these revelations, there ends up being fallout between John, Sia and Melina.
After adjusting to having a daughter, John tries to win Sia over by serenading her with a ballad from the other side of a door.
The lyrics, in Greek, describe opening the “closed window” to another person — but when given the option, Sia decides not to open the door and go to John. She’s still afraid. (Kliris says Scott was drawn to the role of Sia because her own husband surprised her with a rendition of this song at their wedding.)
The scene was daunting for Connick. “I was supposed to be really nervous,” he says — and he was in real life. “I felt like it was an honor to sing in Greek.”
After the failed attempt at serenading Sia, John gives his daughter the sheet music to “Find Me Falling” so she can start her own career. But upon seeing that gesture, Sia is won over and convinced John has changed into a more generous person. She then goes to John’s house and says she’s here to “jump,” rather than fall.
The movie picks up a year later. Melina is recording John’s songs. John and Sia are in the house together with their new community: Manoli, his wife, their daughter and her son.
Will there be a sequel to ‘Find Me Falling’?
Netflix hasn’t confirmed whether “Find Me Falling” will continue with a sequel — but Kliris says her time with the characters isn’t done.
“Quite frankly, I could very easily do a sequel to this as well. There’s a there’s a lot more to tell,” she says.
Kliris says the movie goes from a rom-com in the beginning to an “ensemble piece” by the end, demonstrated by John, Sia and their friends when they gather around the table in the film’s final scene.
Connick thinks there’s more to come for his character, simply from his own lived experience. He sees John as someone who was finally getting back into music, then passed the torch onto his child.
“Two of our daughters are performers,” Connick says of his personal life. “I am pulling for their success and happiness every day, but the idea of (stepping) aside was foreign to me, because I see myself doing this for the rest of my life.”
He wonders how long it will take before John says, “Wait a minute, I really want to get back into (music).”
If there is a second installment, Connick says he’s open to returning.
“Wherever Stelana is, if she needs me, I’ll be there. I respect her that much, and I admire her that much,” he says.
