French director Justine Triet and German actress Sandra Hüller are having the best moment of their professional lives.
Anatomy of a Fall
won the
Palme d'Or at Cannes
, and is now
a candidate for the Oscar for best film
.
It is not competing in an international film, because France decided to send another film (
The Taste of Things
, with Juliette Binoche), which was not among the nominees.
Triet is up for the Oscar for best direction and best original screenplay, and Hüller, for best leading actress for this film, and supporting actress for
The area of interest
.
Anatomy of a Fall
is a film that spends a good part of its two and a half hours in a courtroom, where the guilt or not of Sandra (Sandra Hüller, from the excellent
Toni Erdmann
), the wife of the Frenchman Samuel (Samuel Theis),
, who has apparently committed suicide by jumping from a window of his beautiful chalet in the French Alps.
Samuel is a former academic and aspiring writer, and is going through a professional crisis, a creative block.
Ultimately, he hopes to save the family assets by putting the chalet, with a great view, on Airbnb.
Anatomy of a Fall
has a scene that mobilizes and arouses strong interest: a discussion that the couple had one day before Samuel's death, very revealing of the pain, feelings, fears and resentments in the couple, whose little son Daniel (Milo Machado Graner), who has injured his optic nerves in an accident, must testify.
Guilty or innocent?
Sandra Hüller ("Toni Erdmann") is the protagonist.
Photos Diamond Films
The film really catches and strains the nerves from that scene, because everything that was believed to be true, might not be.
In other words: we are facing a suspicious death, whose only witness is blind.
So, it's a courtroom drama, a mystery.
But long before the court is reached, another scene testifies to how the couple was doing: she gives an interview in the chalet, while he is hammering away at the extremely loud music upstairs.
Conclusion: the interview is postponed.
They have reached that extreme: not agreeing on a minimum coexistence.
Samuel, Sandra and Daniel: a broken family.
Sandra tries to take a nap, while the couple's son, Daniel, takes his dog Snoop for a walk.
The boy gets a tremendous surprise when the body of his father is discovered in the snow, outside the chalet.
Samuel has a head injury.
Questions that add up
And the questions add up.
Did she fall from the upper floor window?
Did someone hit him?
Daniel's blindness was also the subject of a dispute between his parents, since Sandra understands that what happened to her son is a consequence of the negligence of the father, who was supposed to care for Daniel at that time.
Samuel ends up hating his wife, and even believes that she has plagiarized an idea that belonged to him.
Daniel (Milo Machado Graner), who has injured his optic nerves due to an accident, must testify.
Anyway, the main suspect in Samuel's death is Sandra, who hires a friend (who may be in love with her) as a defense lawyer.
The issue is that the only witness is Daniel, who although he cannot see, can contribute things to the cause.
And help or defenestrate his mother with his testimony.
His recollection of what he heard that day is uncertain, but who can know his parents more than a son?
What really happened?
The German Sandra Hüller is a candidate for the Oscar for best leading actress for this French film.
French director Justine Triet tells her story with distance and coldness, so the viewer may wonder until the last moment whether Sandra is guilty or not.
The film is gripping precisely because of the humanity of everyone involved, Sandra, her traumatized son, the medical examiner.
The performances are subtle, natural, simple, in this intelligent and subtly perverse film, which deals with the deep relationships of a family.
“Anatomy of a fall”
Very good
Drama/Suspense.
France, 2023.
Original title:
“Anatomie d'une chute”
.
151', SAM 13 R.
From:
Justine Triet.
With:
Sandra Hüller, Samuel Theis, Swann Arlaud, Miilo Machado Graner.
Theaters:
Hoyts Abasto and Unicenter, Cinemark Palermo, Cinépolis Recoleta and Pilar, Showcase Belgrano.