This year's Palme d'Or winner starts it rollout in European cinemas. Justine Triet’s film tells the compelling story of possible murder – but should 'Anatomy of a Fall' have taken Cannes top prize?
ADVERTISEMENTA man falls to his death in the snow.
Did he jump from the window of a remote lodge in the French Alps? Was it an accident? Or was he pushed?
These are the questions at the core of French director Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winning film, L’anatomie d’une chute (Anatomy of a Fall), an Alpine murder-mystery that doubles as a captivating courtroom drama.
We follow German novelist Sandra (Toni Erdmann star Sandra Hüller), who lives with her partially sighted son Daniel (Milo Machado Graner) and her frustrated husband Samuel (Samuel Theis). The latter’s death means that Sandra soon finds herself on trial for his murder. She has no alibi and unearthed recordings reveal that there were tensions in the marriage. Sandra has made a respected name for herself in the literary world with books that mine her life for material, while her late husband, an aspiring writer, harbours plenty of resentment. As the state of the couple’s marriage is exposed, so is Daniel’s doubtful shrinkage when it comes to believing his mother’s innocence.
Who did what to whom, and will Sandra survive public scrutiny?
We’re obviously not going to spoil anything here.
What we will spoil is that Sandra Hüller is the beating heart of this unconventional whodunnit. Her icy and unapologetic demeanour intrigues and initially destabilizes, and as her arguments gradually emerge, so does audience sympathy in what could be an unreliable narrator. It’s a perfectly measured and emotional tour de force that buttresses the central theme of perception.
Co-written by Triet and Arthur Harrari, the filmmaker behind Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle (and Triet’s partner in real-life), what starts as a procedural morphs into a fairly straightforward family drama less about how Samuel died and more concerned with knotty parenthood and the burdens of responsibility in relationships. Especially when your relationship is dissected in public for all to see – something which in turn allows Trier to use the judicial system as a springboard to expose entrenched misogynistic prejudices. Sandra is not the ideal victim fighting for her innocence to be heard; she speaks matter-of-factly about the imperfection of her relationships, and feels like a fully rounded human being, as opposed to the clichéd figure of the irreproachable martyr fighting for survival.
What’s most impressive about the script is that instead of going down a pulpy, Basic Instinct route (Sandra, a bisexual novelist accused of murder, could seem like Sharon Stone’s Catherine Tramell on paper), the film reveals itself as far more interested in weightier meditations on perception and storytelling. The stories we convince ourselves of, as well as the stories we tell others about ourselves. As such, the engulfing sense of uncertainty becomes addictive throughout.
So, did Anatomy of a Fall deserve to win this year’s Palme d’Or?
It definitely deserved to win this year’s Palme Dog Award, as the family’s dog Snoop (see what they did there?) steals the show as an unexpectedly crucial puzzle piece in the investigation.
More to the point, Anatomy of a Fall works as a thought-provoking drama with proper emotional depth, and there’s no denying that it is a sizeable leap forward for Triet, who previously directed Hüller in her third film, the 2019 meta-comedy Sibyl. The impactful, perfectly written argument scenes and Hüller’s performance make it a must-see. And while the lead actress should have won the acting gong in Cannes for this performance instead of the film nabbing the Palme, Anatomy of a Fall does linger in the mind. It has a wide appeal and will rightfully be talked about come next year’s awards season, especially for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars. Whether or not it will have the staying power of previous Cannes winners remains to be seen.
Regardless, we recommend you watch it with your significant other. And argue about it. Just don’t get any ideas.
Anatomy of a Fall is out now in select European cinemas - it continues its rollout in theatres over the next few months and is released in the UK in November.
