A family of three consisting of a husband, a wife and a son, all move to a chalet in France, near the husband’s hometown and far away from society as it is the husband’s request to focus exclusively on his work as a writer and his family. This all changes abruptly when he is found dead in the entrance of the house, creating the main mystery the story revolves around: How did he die?
“Anatomy of a Fall,” directed by Justine Triet, is a drama focusing on the many layers of the death of Samuel Maleski, making the movie develop into a courtroom where we are shown the evidence collected as the runtime progresses as well as a deep delve into the emotions and conflicts that our protagonist Sandra Voyter has, leaving the audience in a never-ending intrigue about what is real and what’s not.
What makes this different than most murder mystery films, is that the film attacks the main plot in a more emotional way, highlighting the relationship between Sandra and Samuel and how many secrets are hidden between each other and the audience, as well as the effect this case has on their kid, Daniel.
Daniel suffered an accident around 4 years prior to when the main events of the movie happen, ending up on him losing most of his vision and resulting in a constant state of blame that Samuel pushed on himself. This just adds to the inner struggles and the depth of our characters, making the audience wonder if the murder could have been because of this.
Sandra Hüller as Sandra Voyter does an amazing job showing the many emotions the plot makes her go through. The way she portrays her, even in scenes where the dialogue can be simple, elevates the movie and makes the character feel like a completely real person, with her own flaws and errors. This ends up in the court drama not being about who is the true villain and hero of the relationship, but about what is the truth of what happened.
The way in which the movie changes what is believed to be the truth and makes an extremely important point in how reciprocity in relationships work, is another one of the highlight topics in the movie. This reciprocity is one of the main issues between the couple, and just shows how small arguments over time can snowball and end up as the main cause of fights.
With both of our main cast being writers, the art of creating is also showcased in the movie. One of the most interesting points is when one of the books written by Sandra is brought up to court, and the strong argument about if the art of someone is a direct showing of their emotions and struggles or can be excluded completely from their ideals and story.
Finally, for a movie that is mainly developed in a courtroom and mentions a lot of legal talk, it does an amazing job of keeping the audience engaged and curious about what other piece of information will make a change in the opinion of the judges.
Anatomy of a Fall is still in some cinemas around the country, as well as available for streaming.
