(43) Are you trying to save my soul?

A film whose theatrical trailer marches to the majestic thrum of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony is a film that makes a promise. And while the promise might initially and at times seem unclear, “The Fall” nevertheless delivers in flying colors and with stunning visual pomp and circumstance.

At 43 on the American Cinematographer’s list of 50 best-shot films of the last decade, “The Fall” bestows a sumptuous canvas for the story of a disabled Hollywood stuntman and a young immigrant girl’s stay at a hospital in 1920s Los Angeles. Both are “fallen” individuals, so to speak; he, metaphorically, and she, having fallen off an orange tree.

And together, they spin a Dali-esque tale inspired by her imaginative contributions and his personal tragedy and shortcomings.

Locations span from Villa Adriana in Italy to the Namib Desert to the Taj Mahal in India.

Directed by Tarsen Singh and filmed in over 18 countries and at 26 locales across the world, the surrealist film boasts all natural locations and no CGI effects, despite its strikingly hyper-realistic landscapes. From Singh’s homeland of India to Rome to the Czech Republic and a host of other exotic destinations, our protagonists’ myth unravels in artfully symmetrical backdrops and transitions under clever observation.

Transitions are shots matched up with locations, such as Butterfly Reef in Fiji and India's Ladakh terrain.

Unlike “The Diving Bell and Butterfly,” “The Fall” is an intentionally detailed and meticulously constructed world——a magnum opus. While at only 43 on the American Cinematographer’s list, this film is jaw-dropping and arguably the most beautiful, if not extravagant, among the 50.

Our heroes escape ashore to an unnamed location in India.