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Anatomy of a Fall

Justine Triet's Palme d'Or winning drama about the unravelling of a relationship is a coldly intriguing piece of work. The film starts at an Alpine cottage where Sandra (Sandra Hüller) is being interviewed about her writing. Her husband, Samuel (Samuel Maleski) is upstairs playing loud music, her son readying the dog for a walk in the snow. The music brings a premature end to the interview as the son, Daniel (Milo Machado Graner) heads out. On his return, his father lies dead at the front of the house. No spoilers here, this all happens in the first 10 minutes of the film.

The rest of the runtime picks apart the events leading up to the fall. But did he fall, did he jump or was he pushed? The intrigue doesn't play out like a detective story, where the fun lies in the minutiae of putting the 'how' together. Rather, it focusses on the 'why', or how things got to this point. Sandra enlists the help of an old lawyer friend, Vincent (Swann Arlaud) when it appears she'll be indicted on a murder charge, and here's where the bulk of the film occurs - in court.

Hüller is frankly incredible in this role. She has a lot of work to do and her naturalism is astonishing, especially considering she's not acting in her native tongue (she's German but she uses English and French here). She runs through anger, sadness, stoicism, despair, regret and mild panic, and never seems like she's 'acting'. There's a central flashback scene with Samuel that crackles off the screen, which they'll probably show when she wins the Oscar (surely a strong chance?). Her performance in this is all the more surprising as the last film I saw her in was the underwhelming Sisi & I (she's also in the upcoming Perth Festival film The Zone of Interest).

Although Hüller will garner the lion's share of praise, the support is top notch. Arlaud, is tough but lovelorn; Jehnny Beth as Marge, a court appointed guardian for Daniel, does plenty of unshowy work; and Graner has to carry quite a hefty load, as the innocent child being slowly forced to mature during the case.

As fine as this is, it's not without flaws. The main issues would be the pacing and general length of the film. Two and a half hours feels a touch long and there are moments where the film drags, mainly outside the court. I can think of one or two scenes with Hüller and Arlaud that seem superfluous. Leaving this aside, Triet gives us many points to ponder and this is a well developed, worthy awards film.

Anatomy of a Fall is screening at UWA Somerville from Jan 1 - 7 as part of the Perth Festival.

See also:

This is similar to Alice Diop's Saint Omer (2022) in its court case scenes, and Dominik Moll's The Night of the 12th (2022) is also set around Grenoble, in the French Alps.

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