I’m not a fan of legal dramas (I’m generally not a fan of watching procedural dramas, even though I write them – maybe it’s a work hazard). Yet I was captivated by Anatomy of a Fall, which takes place largely in the courtroom and depicts the investigation of a homicide case. But it’s so much more than just an investigation of what appears to be an unnatural death. The film asks questions about truth, perspective, family, and communication. And at the heart of it all is an 11-year old boy, who discovers the cracks in his parents’ marriage and is forced to grow up amidst the spectacle of a heavily publicised trial.
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5 stars
Director:
- Justine Triet
Writers:
- Justine Triet
- Arthur Harari
Cast:
- Sandra Hüller (Sandra Voyter)
- Swann Arlaud (Vincent Renzi)
- Milo Machado-Graner (Daniel Maleski)
- Antoine Reinartz (prosecutor)
- Samuel Theis (Samuel Maleski)
- Jehnny Beth (Marge Berger)
Anatomy of a Fall is a French legal drama, with dialogue in both French and English. It is also known as Anatomie d’une chute in French. It won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023 and Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards in 2024. It also won the Palm Dog Award (for canine thespians). It revolves around the trial of a novelist, who is suspected of homicide when her university lecturer husband dies in the titular fall.
Tremendous range from Sandra Hüller
Sandra Hüller plays the widow Sandra Voyter, who struggles to cope with the death of her husband. Despite her grief, she manages to maintain her composure – giving us the impression of a frigid, unfeeling wife. To her son Daniel (Milo Machado-Graner), her lawyer Vincent (Swann Arlaud), and even the prosecutor (Antoine Reinartz), we see Sandra remaining mostly calm. Yet this is juxtaposed against her passionate, stormy relationship with her recently deceased husband Samuel Maleski (Samuel Theis). When we see the two extremes of Sandra – we realise just how much she is holding (or, perhaps, withholding), and the amazing range that Hüller has when playing the bereaved wife.
plays Daniel Maleskia in Anatomy of a Fall. (Image: Le Pacte)
Brilliant performance from Milo Machado-Graner
While Sandra Voyter might seem like the main character, it’s really their 11-year-old son Daniel who is at the centre of the tale. During production, Machado-Graner (who plays Daniel) would have been 13 – and at at that age, he provides a phenomenal performance as a son who discovers just how much his parents’ relationship has deteriorated. In essence, Daniel is the audience – discovering horrifying truths about his mother and father as we do – and also the protagonist, because it is his perspective which ultimately proves to be the turning point of the tale. Machado-Graner show us the vulnerability, courage, confusion, and pain of an 11-year-old who has to go through the ordeal of a very public trial about his father’s death (with his mother as the main suspect), eclipsing even seasoned actors five or six times his age.
Superb scripting and directing
I’m not a fan of a writer-directors – having known a very obnoxious one who screamed this fact into everyone’s ear, I feel the two production roles should be separated. However, Justine Triet manages to be both, and deliver on both fronts. In terms of scripting, the plot unfolds beautifully, with each new piece of exposition making us reconsider the narrative and lending a different colour to our perception of events. In terms of cinematography, it’s the symbolism of the mise en scene, the way the shots mirror each other in the framing, and the purposeful blocking of the cast that makes the script shine. I applaud Justine Triet for her work, and I’d certainly love to meet her one day.
Themes of truth and perception
Being a legal drama, the show is fundamentally about establishing an objective sequence of facts, based on subjective testimonies from the witnesses (and some choice pieces of evidence). From the get-go, with the different analyses of the forensic pathologists about a factual crime scene, we’re introduced to the idea that no truth exists, merely interpretations. And it’s expertly depicted in the fact that Sandra, who’s not good in French, is supposed to deliver her testimony in French even though she mainly speaks English. As anyone who has ever had to struggle with having to express oneself in a weaker language can understand – a lack of mastery in the language that you communicate in can alter perceptions, both that of oneself and that from oneself, much more than any fact can. With all the different expressions of the this message, the film explores this theme deftly, and with finesse.
Ultimately about the anatomy of a relationship
The investigation eventually leads to Sandra and Michael’s relationship being put under a microscope and cross-examined for all to see. In a way, the film is really about the anatomy of this relationship – and more specifically, the fall of this relationship. Michael’s physical call is a proxy for the metaphorical fall of his marriage, and causes us to ask ourselves – in what areas have our relationships manifested in very real, very physical consequences for us?
The prosecutor is over the top
Every story needs an antagonist, and the prosecutor (Antoine Reinartz) serves that role here. Unfortunately, there is little subtlety in the depiction of prosecutor. We’re made to hate him at every turn, as he makes the most ridiculous leaps of logic and overplays his part as a singularly evil bureaucrat who is out to take down Sandra. This, in turn, reduces the impact of his pronouncements – it’s obvious that as the big bad guy of the film, he will not succeed and thus his actions carry little threat.
I’ve belaboured this point, but I will say it again – I’m not a fan of the genre (legal drama of the arthouse film variety), which is why I’m unceasingly amazed by my own fascination with Anatomy of a Fall. It’s not the usual type of film I watch, and not the usual fare I’m accustomed to. And to be able to feel so much from it, and to think so highly of it, is the best testimony that any kind of legal drama can get from such a person.
Anatomy of a Fall is out in cinemas now.
This is an original article on marcusgohmarcusgoh.com.
You may be interested in the following Anatomy of a Fall materials:
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- Anatomy of a Fall script in English
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