VIFF 2023 | Movie Review: "Anatomy Of A Fall" And The Anatomy Of An Exceptional Courtroom Drama
11/12 ForReel Score | 4.5/5 Stars
There are a few genres of film that will always be deep mines for storytelling. The courtroom drama is near the top of that list because the processes and procedures of the legal system provide a perfect frame for investigating characters' wants, needs, and emotions in depth, as it can in real life. What’s more, this capability seems to translate across cultures. Last year, French courtroom drama Saint Omer made waves on a robust film festival run. Earlier this year, Argentina, 1985 earned a Best International Film nomination at the Academy Awards. And even right now, the Canadian drama-thriller Red Rooms has become a prominent genre film selection for festivals including VIFF (see Thomas Stoneham-Judge’s interview with director Pascal Plante and producer Dominique Dussault to learn more).
Director Justine Triet's Anatomy of a Fall not only continues this trend of crafting captivating courtroom drama, but it’s one of the best audiences have seen in some time.
Image courtesy of VIFF
As the film opens, Sandra (Sandra Hüller, who also plays in another fall film festival favorite, The Zone of Interest) is a successful novelist being interviewed about her latest work in her home in the French Alps. However, the interview cannot proceed as her husband Samuel (Samuel Theis) is working upstairs renovating the attic and inconsiderately blaring music - a version of 50 Cent's “P.I.M.P.”, which is a detail that will become relevant even if it seems like it shouldn’t be. At the same time, their visually impaired son, Daniel (Milo Machado Graner), is bathing their dog and proceeds to take him out for a walk at the same time that the interviewer leaves.
When Daniel returns, he finds his father on the ground and unresponsive in a pool of blood. It's immediately apparent that Samuel has fallen from the window he was working at. What’s not apparent, however, is whether he somehow slipped, or if he was pushed by the only other individual at the house: Sandra.
As with any film in this genre - one that takes place in limited locations and features a lot of dialogue - the script and the performances must be top-notch, and Anatomy of a Fall delivers on both in spades. The script, co-written by Triet and their real-life partner Arthur Harari, ensures that each character feels like a real human being, and each time a character reveals or hides something, it feels like a natural, relatable choice. Paired with the decision to have Hüller's character be a German who speaks English fluently but French poorly means that the nuances of communication are often broken and lead to small obfuscations that give you the impression that no matter how sincere Hüller is acting, she is ultimately hiding something.
Image courtesy of VIFF
The cast is universally excellent, with Swann Arlaud and Antoine Renartz putting in the work as the defence lawyer and prosecutor respectively, the former who is implied to be a little too close to Sandra perhaps and the latter who is so good at his job you won't know whether to root for or against him. Theis, whose character exists almost solely in flashbacks, also does a beautiful and nuanced job as Samuel, a husband who is bristling at his wife's success. He and Hüller, in one of the film's best scenes, have a violent argument (which is recorded and the audio played for the court) in which they discuss the balance of their lives and responsibilities. This scene feels like it could be taken from almost any relationship where the balances are uneven, and does the job of making sure neither one is entirely sympathetic.
This is the aspect in which Hüller shines; Sandra is a strong, successful woman entitled to said success, but also behaves selfishly. The duality of sympathetic but also unlikable is a difficult needle to thread, but she pulls it off with precision, last seen in Cate Blanchett in Tár.
All of this filtered through the lens of the court, dissecting the character's lives and making assumptions based on the evidence they uncover lays bare that the truth, as always, lies somewhere in the middle of things. Anatomy of a Fall comes to a conclusion I won't spoil, but regardless of the outcome, you will be left with much to think about and discuss, which is a hallmark of a great film and an incredible reflection of how high-profile court cases work in real life.
Acting and Casting - 2 | Visual Effects and Editing - 2 | Story and Message - 2 | Entertainment Value - 2 | Music Score and Soundtrack - 1 | Reviewer's Preference - 2 | What does this mean?