From Jeff Nelson

Justine Triet made quite the splash at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival with her court drama Anatomy of a Fall, where festival goers pitted it against Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest. Triet’s film took home the coveted Palme d’Or after captivating the jury and the audience with its courtroom drama surrounding the mysterious details of a man’s tragic death.

Sandra Voyter (Sandra Hüller) and her blind son, Daniel (Milo Machado Graner), are distressed when they find her husband, Samuel (Samuel Theis), dead after a tragic fall from the window of their French countryside home. She’s ultimately suspected of her husband’s murder, setting off an intense and public trial, where her son is the only witness. Daniel begins to question whether his mother is capable of killing his father, as their marital struggles come to light.

Anatomy of a Fall carefully decides what to hide from the audience, maintaining a mystery as to what really happened to Samuel. Triet submerges us in the court trial, dropping crumbs of information regarding the family in question, which is a puzzle that progressively becomes clearer as the case unfolds. No marriage is perfect, but the questions surrounding their issues become increasingly concerning, with only a limited quantity of flashbacks to prove what actually occurred, treating the audience as its own jury of sorts.

The mother-son relationship between Sandra and Daniel changes after Samuel’s death, as the young boy faces inner turmoil regarding his mother’s possible involvement in the fall. He turns to her for emotional support, while also pulling away in fear of a person he perhaps never truly knew. It’s that moment when we realize that our parents are imperfect beings, but he’s wrestling with this during a murder trial.

There’s no question that Hüller’s tremendous performance as Sandra anchors the film, both in and out of the courtroom. She effortlessly weaves a multitude of emotions into every character beat, allowing the film to shine through the film’s courtroom trappings. Triet’s engaging direction elevates the stationary courtroom scenes where possible, but it’s Hüller who breathes life into this story.

Anatomy of a Fall is an arresting dramatic crime thriller that interrogates the moral complexity of love behind closed doors. All of the characters grapple with expectation versus reality, both as they relate to the trial and interpersonal relationships. Triet falls into several courtroom tropes that occasionally give off the feeling that we’re watching a television procedural, but there’s a specific nuance to the family drama that reads as compelling, mature, and sincere. 

Rating: 3.5/5

Anatomy of a Fall hits theaters on October 13th, 2023.

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