Director: Justine Triet | 152 minutes | crime, drama | Actors: Sandra Hüller, Swann Arlaud, Milo Machado Graner, Antoine Reinartz, Samuel Theis, Jehnny Beth, Saadia Bentaïeb, Camille Rutherford, Anne Rotger, Sophie Fillières
When university lecturer Samuel Maleski (Samuel Theis) dies at home under suspicious circumstances, his wife and writer Sandra (Sandra Hüller) is quickly identified as a suspect. It is not clear whether it is an unfortunate accident, suicide or murder. Their son Daniel (Milo Machado Graner), who is visually impaired due to an accident, also appears to be the only witness to the fatal incident. An unusually hard fight follows in court, which, regardless of the outcome, also makes victims among the innocent.
Without becoming banal, the interrogations and testimonies go into gruesome detail about what may have happened that day and what may have led to it. And without sensationalism, director Justine Triet leaves it open until the last frame whether the accused is telling the truth or distorting things. However, whether the judicial final judgment is entirely valid is less important in the film than what the court process does to mother and son. Sandra is stripped naked in public and, like Daniel, tormented by the meticulous reconstruction of the marriage to Samuel, which is essentially about the decline of their relationship.
Although Sandra may not have given her husband the final push, it cannot be ruled out that she had some share in it. Director Triet is deeply fascinated by the emotional confusion that can arise between couples. She plays with the idea, as if with fire, that you can continue to believe in your own (in)nocence as long as your supply of arguments lasts.
Triet is also busy with changes in perspective and subjectivity. Everyone sees the same event differently or can interpret it in a different way (afterwards). It is like the thorny, and sometimes irreconcilable, differences between the two languages used during the process. Even though French is the court’s language, Sandra prefers to speak in English because she feels most comfortable in it. The truth floats somewhere uncomfortably between the two. The search for what exactly happened is therefore both understandable and sometimes elusive.
The nail-biting ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ virtuosically drags you into Sandra’s trial, the impact of which spreads like an oil slick into Daniel’s interior. In addition, the actors portray conflicting feelings, which arise from all too human doubts, criminally well. Not only are you never quite sure whether Sandra is sincere, you also mainly sympathize with her. In short, imagine for yourself how you would do in this dock.
Roy van Landschoot
Rating: 4.5
Theatrical release: October 12, 2023