Sandra, Samuel and their visually impaired son Daniel have been living in a remote mountain location for the past year. When Samuel is found dead outside the house, an investigation for death in su...
WHAT I LIKED: Justine Triet's 'Anatomy of a Fall,' follows the murder trial of a writer called Sandra (Sandra Huller) after her husband dies at their home in the French Alps with only the pair's blind son (Milo Machado-Graner) as a witness. Mainly that makes for a fascinating mystery, but not just because you want to figure out whether it was suicide or murder. In fact, the thing you're really dying to understand as you watch is *why* either of those things would have happened, as, in lieu of any hard evidence, the legal system ends up putting Sandra's character on trial most of all.
The first time we meet Sandra she's trying to work whilst her husband plays loud music upstairs, but after his death, we only get to understand their relationship through her and her son's conversations with her lawyer (Swann Arlaud) and law enforcement. The two hint at the marriage being strained, but you know Sandra is holding back out of grief and a fear of being convicted, and Huller plays that brilliantly. The constant unknown maintains the tension throughout, and that's helped by Triet's brilliant camerawork which never seems suggestive or intrusive.
Then towards the end when the tension does finally erupt in court, because it's been so well built, the conclusion is deeply satisfying. You hear a recording of an extremely revealing argument between the pair which turns into a flashback, and this not only showcases some of the finest acting of the year, but seemingly explains the *why* for both possibilities.
Both feel like they're being held back by the other; she's moved away from her homeland for him, he feels like he has no time to write himself because he has to look after their son. She feels he's just using that as an excuse, he feels she stifles his creative ideas. It's a beautifully frank but very organic exchange that finally gets to the heart of why the couple were at loggerheads.
Sure that may not give much certainty on whether it was murder or suicide, but it's a deeply satisfying conclusion to the mystery of the characters, and one that brilliantly subverts the kind of woman-blaming story you might expect in a different kind of film.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: For what it does, it's hard to fault.
VERDICT: Justine Triet's 'Anatomy of a Fall,' is a masterclass in tension and release which will have you more concerned with the truth of its characters than the truth of its court case.
