Film Review: Anatomie Eines Falls (Anatomie D’Une Chute, Anatomy Of A Fall)
by Pat Frickey
Justine Triet, France 2023
Sandra (Sandra Hüller) is a successful, German-born novelist, living an idyllic life in the French Alps with her would-be writer husband Samuel (Samuel Theis) in his charming ancestral home. Their eleven-year-old son Daniel (Milo Machado Graner) is mostly homeschooled by his father. Daniel’s constant companion is his border collie named Snoop (Messi). It is later revealed Daniel is partially blind due to an accident when he was just four. Sandra is a very cool customer. When a student comes to interview her at home, Sandra remains frostily composed as her husband blasts a cover of “P.I.M.P.” by 50 Cent from upstairs making the conversation impossible. Something is amiss in paradise.
Daniel takes Snoop for a walk on the snowy slopes, and upon returning discovers his father lying dead in a pool of blood after a fall from the attic window. Police are called, and they are suspicious; was it murder? Samuel is a local boy, and just who is his wife Sandra, who speaks only passable French, and doesn’t mingle with the neighbors?
Much of the film is a courtroom drama, mostly in French. Sandra and Samuel had met and lived in London; English was their common language. Sandra is now required to try and defend herself in French as the complexities and conflicts in her marriage spill out. Lawyer and former love interest Vincent (Swann Arlaud) is there to protect her, though the moviegoer can’t be sure Vincent, still smitten, is convinced of her innocence. The toxic prosecutor (Antoine Reinartz) makes the courtroom bristle during the cross examination as he spews his incisive accusations. Son Daniel, who had been sequestered from his mother, insists on sitting in on the entire trial, and testifying.
Who wants to watch a slow-paced film that is 152 minutes long in three languages? Justine Triet’s brilliant direction/script and Sandra Hüller’s outstanding performance—just watching her every nuanced expression while listening intently to her every single word, spoken and unspoken—makes the 152 minutes an intriguing whodunit.
