The riveting drama is an unqualified triumph
In anatomy of the fall, In his fourth film, French writer-director Justin Triet embarks on a sweeping examination of a tense relationship that ends in a sickening shock. The investigation creates an intense, suspenseful drama centered around a suspected murder and a bruising court battle.
Thanks to the firm grip she and co-writer Arthur Harari have on the material, the film uses its two dimensions—both a marriage story and a legal thriller—to explore the interior of a home plagued by unresolved issues—incompatibility, infidelity, jealousy. And bitterness curls.
where home is Anatomy of a fruit is set is a renovated chalet nestled in a snow-capped mountain. It’s isolated, often dimly lit and divided by stairs that feel uncomfortably cramped, with sharp angles and sharp tangents. It’s a cold place tinged with discomfort—a fact established at the outset.
Discretely loud music blasts from the attic as a woman in the crowd on the lower level tries to strike up a conversation with an interviewer. Serenity is the last thing in the realms of possibility here. The interview was canceled as the music got louder. It’s a perfect lead up to what unfolds over the next two hours and a bit.
Sensationally tight writing, a wonderfully fantastic Sandra Bullock, and the foundation for top-quality filmmaking. Anatomy of a FallA thriller that breaks free from all the usual constraints and becomes a riveting postmortem of a troubled marriage.
Samuel Malesky (Samuel Thies) falls to his death from his attic in his remote chalet near Grenoble. His wife, the successful German novelist Sandra Voiter (Hüller), is the prime suspect. Their son Daniel (Milo Machado Greiner), a visually impaired eleven-year-old, is the only ‘witness’.
The boy returns from a walk with his guide dog Snoop (Kahn Palm Dog winner Macy) to find his father lying bloody under the window. Her testimony holds the key to the mystery of an incident that the police refuse to dismiss as an accident or a case of suicide.
With the odds loaded against her, Sandra is accused. In the courtroom, the prosecutor (Antoine Reinertz), the epitome of perseverance, is hell-bent on convicting Sandra. Vincent Renzi (Swan Arlaud, brilliantly effortless), an old lawyer-friend of Sandra’s, puts up a stout defense in the face of a battery of people testifying against his client.
Anatomy of a Fall Dives deep into conflicting facts and assumptions about the severe mental and emotional turmoil the family has endured over the years. In the first flush, the cracks are the cause of Samuel’s death and its consequences. The focus of the film is as much on the wife as it is on the pre-teen boy who is forced to grow up quickly in the face of a turbulent turn of events.
A two-and-a-half-hour legal drama might have become tiresome if it wasn’t so plot-driven and paced. Like a master orchestra conductor at the top of every note, every rhythm and every accompaniment, Triet handles important revelations with unprecedented control. Not for a moment is this film about a marriage thrown off balance by a tragedy.
A physical collapse that sparks an investigation, an indictment, a trial, and relentless media attention is just the culmination of a relationship in free fall. The fatal plummet is a metaphor for the direction Sandra and Samuel’s marriage has gone since a road accident left Daniel with permanent optic nerve damage.
Anatomy of a fruit Using complex and protracted trials to surface essential questions, in a completely non-judgmental manner, a woman who exerts control over everything around her and a man who is obsessed with inadequacy, failure, resentment and guilt. You are a monster, the day before the death of husband Samuel, the couple is struck by lightning during an angry argument. He also accused her of being cold-hearted. Before the tape is played in the courtroom to prove Sandra’s guilt, in one scene she insists to her son that he is not the monster he might be led to think.
She tells the smitten boy: “Your father was my soulmate. We chose each other. How to prove it?” His words constituted a desperate request. They also add to the claim of innocence. But it becomes clear how difficult things are for Sandra when no one – certainly not the prosecutor and the police investigator – is in the mood to give her a chance.
An audio recording of a nasty spat between Sandra and Samuel that ended in violence became a key exhibit at trial. It is based on the investigation of errors in the expectation of reciprocity in a relationship between two temperamentally and culturally different people. Samuel French, Sandra German. English is their language of communication.
What separates Anatomy of a Fall What sets it apart from other legal dramas is the centrality it gives to the child caught in the middle. His mother’s fate depends on his testimony. Should she be punished for the woman she was – focused on her work and gifted and driven to churn out novels at a pace that her husband, a teacher-turned-writer unable to wrap up his first book, would perhaps envy?
In a brief exchange during the trial, Joe Solidor (Camille Rutherford), the student we see Sandra interviewing for her thesis in the film’s opening sequence, objects to the judge addressing her as “Mrs. Solidor”. Don’t reduce me to a marital status, he snaps. It is a misguided utterance but loaded with great significance.
Anatomy of a fruit Puts a bickering couple under a scanner but his initial ambition is not limited to making a legal thriller with twists and turns galore. It purports to present the story of a woman who effortlessly overshadows the man she loves and sees no value in subordinating her personal desires to make the marriage work. This is a film that delivers surprises till its final scene.
The Palme d’Or winner redefined the courtroom drama format with determination. It deservedly earned five Oscar nominations. But it doesn’t need an award to prove its worth. An unqualified victory. Don’t miss out on the big screen – right there Anatomy of a fruit belongs to
