In Anatomy of a falla legal drama with thriller overtones thanks to which she became the third woman to win the Palme d’Or, Justine Triet features a novelist who, suspected of the murder of her husband, is judged in the presence of her visually impaired son.
In his previous feature films, The Battle of Solferino (2013), Victoria (2016) and Sybil (2019), Justine Triet seemed to lay, under the guise of dramatic comedy, the foundations ofAnatomy of a fall. Conflicting couple relationships, toxic masculinity, mental load, private life vampirized for the benefit of fiction, professional failure: having explored these themes in sparkling portraits of women on the verge of a nervous breakdown, the filmmaker, who co-wrote the screenplay with Arthur Harari, returns there to dissect with surgical precision a couple adrift.
Renowned German novelist, Sandra Voyter (Sandra Hüller, excellent) has been living for a year in a chalet in the mountains, a few kilometers from Grenoble, with her husband Samuel Maleski (Samuel Theis), ex-professor in London, and their 11-year-old son. years old Daniel (Milo Machado Graner, prodigious), who became visually impaired following an accident. In this Franco-German family, we use English to communicate.
While receiving a student (Camille Rutherford), Sandra is forced to postpone the interview when a resumption of P.I.M.P. of 50 Cent by the German group Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band resounds loudly. Although she calmly explains to her guest that it is her husband who works in the attic, a slight annoyance shows in her voice and on her face. Shortly afterwards, returning from a walk with his dog, Daniel discovered his father lying in the snow, his head bloody. Accidental, voluntary or criminal defenestration?
Having accustomed us to invigorating productions, Justine Triet opts here for sobriety. As soon as the police arrive at the scene of the tragedy, their gaze becomes distant, fixed, cold, searching for the slightest clue. Multiplying high-angle shots of the place where the body fell, she suggests the impact of the fall to the point of making one dizzy.
Surprisingly, she shoots certain shots at dog’s height, matching the animal’s nervousness, as if he were the only being to have guessed what had happened, as if he was trying to communicate it to his younger self. master. The viewer then understands that the presence of the dog is not incidental and that it will become a key element in the future.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY ENTRACT
Sandra Hüller in Anatomy of a fall
A year later, Sandra, suspected of Samuel’s murder, is tried in the presence of her son who has been assigned a social worker (Jehnny Beth). Defended by a friend, the reserved Master Vincent Renzi (Swann Arlaud, impeccable), Sandra, a woman of words, will have to plead her case in a language she has little control over, that of Molière, facing the formidable attorney general (Antoine Reinartz, arrogant as desired). The sole witness to the events preceding the tragedy, Daniel will have to choose his side.
Once again, Justine Triet surprises with her way of using places. Moving away from spectacular American-style legal dramas, she films everything organically. The camera movements become more fluid, sometimes more nervous, sometimes in search of the slightest expression on a face, sometimes to capture the chaos which tries to interfere between the parties.
When she does not directly borrow the child’s point of view on the assembly, it is through the latter’s imagination that she brings back painful moments from the past, such as this argument between her parents that Samuel recorded it and the prosecution presents it to incriminate Sandra.
If he mentions Force majeureby Ruben Östlund, for his hostile winter landscapes and his anxiety-inducing closed doors, Anatomy of a fall also comes close to it through its brilliant and nuanced analysis of the power relations existing within a couple. Like the couple of Fair Playby Chloe Domont, the wife’s career is on the rise and the husband’s is in decline.
The harsh and cruel words that Sandra and Samuel exchange reflect at the same time the envy, the disappointment and the frustration that both feel. From one line to the next, the roles are reversed, going from executioner to victim, and vice versa. Rarely authentic, the couple’s confrontation makes it impossible to know who is wrong and who is right. And when the verdict falls, total ambiguity reigns. The spectator has the great pleasure of finding his truth there.
Drama
Anatomy of a fall
Justine Triet
Sandra Hüller, Milo Machado Graner, Swann Arlaud
2:31 a.m. Indoors