by A.J.
Best Pictures #100: 2023 (96th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee
“This is your own trap.”
Anatomy of a Fall feels like the kind of courtroom drama that Hollywood studios used to turn out in the 1980’s and 90’s. This winner of the prestigious Palme d’Or winner at the Cannes film Festival has gone on to international acclaim and relative box office success (for a foreign language film released in America anyway), and now has earned 5 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Best Actress for Sandra Hüller, Director for Justine Triet, Original Screenplay, and Editing. In its best moments it blends the drama of a murder trial, the tension of a mystery, and the emotions of a marital drama, which is impressive since one of the spouses dies right at the very beginning. This is essentially a legal procedural elevated by its embracing of uncertainty, great performances, and marital and family drama played not for sensation but to give the characters dimensions and complexity.
German actress Sandra Hüller plays a successful author, also named Sandra, living with her French husband, Samuel (Samuel Theis), their son, Daniel, and dog, Snoop, in an isolated home in the snowy French countryside. Samuel dies from a mysterious fall out of the attic window. We do not see the fall. The only witness is 11-year-old Daniel (Milo Machado-Graner), who is visually impaired from an accident. It seems unlikely that Samuel just fell. Did Sandra push him? Did he commit suicide? Sandra’s high-profile trial, which is most of the 2 ½ hour film, digs up the drama and discord of her marriage that makes each scenario as likely as the other.
Justine Triet’s direction and screenplay, co-written with Arthur Harari, never lean too far one way or the other about Sandra’s possible guilt or innocence. As soon as secrets are revealed and sympathies built for either Samuel or Sandra, the story slyly introduces doubt. Nearly every scene in the trial is underplayed in a way that lets tension creep in and build slowly. When a secret recording Samuel made of an argument the night before his death is played in court, the movie cuts to an extended flashback. This is Samuel Theis’s only significant scene and both he and Hüller are brilliant. The scene captures, maybe too well, the uneven ups and downs of a real argument: valid points mixed with petty sniping, shouting mixed with measured tones. Triet wisely cuts back to the courtroom right when the argument turns physical and we have to decide if we believe the prosecution or Sandra about the sounds of breaking dishes and slapping and hitting.
The French courtroom seems to be designed for maximum drama. The opposing lawyers and even Sandra are allowed to interrupt and cross-examine whenever opportune. Tangential speeches introducing hypothetical theories are made while a witness stands in the witness box in the background. Swann Arlaud as Vincent, Sandra’s lawyer, who is not entirely concerned with Sandra's innocence or guilt, is a great scene partner for her and a great verbal sparring partner for the zealous Advocate General, played by Antione Reinartz. Milo Machado-Graner has some key towards the climax and the young actor is more than up to the task. Even the Snoop the dog, played by Messi, does some impressive dog acting.
It would be wrong to describe Anatomy of a Fall as a mystery because it is not so much concerned with solving Samuel’s mysterious death or proving Sandra’s innocence or guilt. It is more concerned with the doubt and uncertainty that can exist between people that are supposed to be the closest. Despite this, the style and structure are straightforward. The differing perspectives are made in the courtroom only through words; this is not a Rashomon tale where we see different points of view dramatized. Uncertainty looms over the entire story, even the ending, which though not ambiguous, still feels inconclusive in a way that may not satisfy all but fits the tone and themes.
No comments:
Post a Comment