A falling film evaporator (12) includes an evaporator vessel (26), a plurality of evaporator tubes (38) disposed in the in evaporator vessel (26) through which a volume of thermal energy transfer medium is flowed and a suction port (42) extending through the evaporator vessel (26) to remove vapor refrigerant from the evaporator vessel (26). A refrigerant distribution system (34) is located in the evaporator vessel (26) to distribute a flow of liquid refrigerant over the plurality of evaporator tubes (38). The refrigerant distribution system (34) is configured such that the refrigerant distribution system (34) has a first height at the suction port (42) and a second height greater than the first height at a longitudinal location (28) other than at the suction port (42).