Anatomy of a Fall: Film Review
Films that have been hyped for months, like Anatomy of a Fall, are tricky because you end up with crazy high expectations from seeing so many five stars and “masterpieces” being thrown around. Anatomy of a Fall won the Palme d’Or for best film at Cannes in May so my expectations have been high for months – and I came away feeling underwhelmed.
*Spoilers ahead*
Justine Triet‘s movie stars Sandra Hüller as German novelist Sandra Voyter, who lives in France with her French writer/teacher husband Samuel (Samuel Theis) and their 11-year-old visually impaired son Daniel (Milo Machado-Graner). One day, Daniel discovers Samuel dead outside their home with a head injury. Did he jump from the attic window or was he pushed from the third-floor balcony? As Sandra was the only one home at the time and the death doesn’t seem accidental, she is put on trial for his murder.
As the ‘anatomy’ part of the title suggests, the film really dissects every aspect of the incident, from the autopsy to witness testimonies, reconstructions, blood spatter analysis, and Sandra’s defence lawyer Vincent (Swann Arlaud) training her on what to say. Throughout this cleverly constructed procedural, the layers of Sandra and Samuel’s marriage are slowly peeled back and we gain a greater insight into their lives.
The script is impressive. We learn about the couple’s history in an organic way during the investigation instead of through big exposition dumps. Plus, the courtroom drama is engrossing and compelling when it could have been very stale and there is a terrific flashback scene of an argument that is spectacularly written.
We are placed in the same position as Daniel, Vincent and the jurors – we don’t know if Sandra is innocent or guilty. She insists she didn’t do it, but is she telling the truth? As new revelations in the case are revealed, she flip-flops between seeming innocent to seeming guilty and then back again. I appreciated the reason for this during the trial but I expected an answer afterwards. The fact that we don’t get one really annoyed me. I invested two and a half hours of my time waiting for that reveal and it never came. I couldn’t believe it!
I’m not on the Hüller Oscars train like a lot of people even though her performance was terrific and surprisingly understated. Voyter always felt cold and distant from us. So that’s why I appreciated the performance of Machado-Graner more. We can relate to his struggle of not knowing and his acting towards the end is so good. The dog Messi also deserves a shout-out for his expert acting as Snoop!
Anatomy of a Fall is a smart, gripping courtroom thriller. I just expected a more satisfying and clear-cut resolution.
In cinemas from Friday 10th November