‘Anatomy of a Fall’ Review: a Thrilling Courtroom Drama About Marriage

In the opening scene of Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall, we are immediately introduced to Sandra Voyter (Sandra Hüller), a famous author being interviewed in her home in the French Alps by a female graduate student (Camille Rutherford) about her work. As the interview goes on, Sandra’s husband Samuel (Samuel Theis) suddenly blasts a loud, disorienting instrumental version of 50 Cent’s “P.I.M.P.” from above the house. On repeat. The music gets progressively louder and disruptive, as if Samuel’s purposely trying to derail the interview that’s starting to have subtly flirtatious vibes. It’s something they try to ignore at first, but Samuel’s unrelenting music becomes too unbearable, eventually causing the conversation to be postponed until later.

Afterwards, Samuel and Sandra’s visually impaired son Daniel (Milo Machado Graner) takes their seeing-eye dog Snoop out for a long walk in the French mountains, only to return to a horrific scene. He finds his father dead in the snow with a bloodied wound on his head. With the inquest inconclusive, Sandra becomes the main suspect and gets arrested. Daniel remains the sole key witness to the whole thing. As Anatomy of a Fall progresses on, it becomes clear that the bizarre opening interview will serve as a big piece of the puzzle that is Samuel and Sandra’s relationship before his death. Did he accidentally fall from the attic? Did he jump? Or worse, was he deliberately pushed to his death?

While Triet’s Palme D’Or-winning film, the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival, contains bits of a crime procedural, she and her partner Arthur Harari’s screenplay is more of an emotional examination of a marriage in the guise of a courtroom drama. Within two-and-a-half hours, Anatomy of a Fall starts as somewhat of a mystery then carefully turns into an analysis of a figurative kind of fall other than the one in its center. Every detail of Sandra and Samuel’s declining partnership is scrutinized during a long and exhausting trial. Every personal baggage unearthed for everyone to see. What could cause such a relationship to deteriorate over the years? And does the excavation of past tragedies solve Samuel’s mysterious death?

The film’s courtroom scenes are endlessly riveting, patiently unraveling how the deeply hidden resentments of two people towards each other were formed in a once happy marriage. Triet effectively uses this a great narrative vehicle to probe the tense history of Sandra and Samuel through a series of voice recordings and flashbacks as items of discovery. It’s also a fascinating look into the courtroom culture of the French legal system, which is vastly different than what we’re accustomed to – that is, if you mostly consume American media like me. The judge, prosecutor, defense attorney, and witnesses may all talk to each other at all times, even to the point of insinuating things without evidence just to prove a point for the sake of argument. It’s pretty wild, to say the least.

Hüller’s multifaceted performance as Sandra gives the film its emotional force. Exuding strength, her demeanor remains unwavering even under scrutiny of the public eye. She’s surprisingly unreadable and firm in her moral judgment, keeping much of Sandra’s intentions hidden internally. But as the trial progresses, we learn that she’s also capable of lies, afraid to accept that she could’ve possibly driven Samuel to end his life. That said, I found myself more drawn to Graner’s Daniel, a child forced to make sense of what happened, and having to navigate between believing that her mother is a murderer or her father really did commit suicide. His speech on the witness stand is a memorable one, having finally taken things upon himself to decide what to believe.

As the final scenes of Anatomy of a Fall deliver one big emotional punch, the case seems finally resolved, and we are as tired as Sandra after going through this trial. And yet, like the journalists outside the courthouse, we are still left with questions. Triet leaves us wondering whether we really got to the whole truth, and that’s the beauty of it all. What constitutes as reality is actually different for every individual involved. And even as the warmth of this family has been drained after this entire ordeal, we still may not have all the answers. As Sandra says, “I thought I’d feel relieved… You expect some reward, but it’s just over.”

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