By Matthew Moorcroft

Highest Recommendation

• Directed by Justine Triet
• Starring Sandra Huller, Swann Arlaud, Milo Machado Graner, Antoine Reinartz
• R

A boy returns from a walk with his dog to find his father dead on the ground outside. Blood everywhere. He screams, the mother rushes outside and quickly comforts him. She is distraught and calls 911. It was an accidental fall, no blame to be found here. But something isn’t right. Stuff doesn’t add up, the pieces don’t entirely click into place. Suddenly suspicions rise and now there is a real possibility of foul play. Ladies and gentleman… we have ourselves a trial.

Anatomy of a Fall has been praised from every single angle for months after winning the Palme at Cannes, so frankly I would be simply repeating what other, far smarter critics are saying. But Anatomy of a Fall really is that good; a wickedly engaging procedural drama combined with real dramatic meat to it’s secret underpinnings as a story about a crumbling, failing marriage. It’s the kind of rare film that manages to appeal to casual audiences and hardcore cinephiles equally, blurring that line between mainstream entertainment and arthouse sensibilities that so few films manage to do. After all, it take an immense amount of skill from a director to make your entire second half a singular setpiece and still make you feel like you want more of it.

However, with Anatomy of a Fall, I find myself increasingly more drawn to the margins of the story rather then it’s centerpiece dilemma, which is likely the point. The question of “did she do it?” is the central idea that the entire film revolves around, but in the middle of that is something far more interesting and radical. Anatomy of a Fall isn’t about the deconstruction or even “anatomy” of a presumed murder. It’s about the deconstruction of an entire relationship down to it’s knees.

The pieces have already fallen when the movie starts. As loud music blares from the top of the house during the middle of an interview, forcing it to stop, it’s clear something is wrong in the house. And as we peel away the layers, we see the cracks that forms. Accusations on both sides, traumas that are unveiled, and a self-loathing man unable to come to grip with his own depression. There is a centerpiece screaming match that completely shifts gears of the entire proceedings, and it ultimately gives you the real answer to the film – that no matter what happens here, our lead has already lost what she wanted anyways. She lost it long ago.

All of this, of course, it conveyed brilliantly by Sandra Huller, who is giving an all timer performance here. She just commands the entire screen whenever she is around, and plays it well enough that you never exactly know if she is completely faking it or being genuine. That is a fine line that is difficult to pull off without crossing into the threshold of being too unbelievable, but Huller is seemingly doing it in her sleep. Even more impressive is that she is met to the challenge by the young boy playing her son, Milo Machado Graner, who is so good here that he puts many adult performances from this year to complete shame. Their dynamic becomes the heart of the film, and by it’s final images you are simply just rooting for them to make it out just fine.

So much about Anatomy of a Fall is worth discussing that we could literally be here all day. It’s editing, which is transformative in how it dilates time and space, both fools you into red herrings while muddying the waters on it’s actual evidence. Triet’s own direction is calculated and precise. The limited usage of music gives the moments the diegetic pieces do appear more impact and weight. It’s a smorgasbord of incredible craftsmanship and makes complete sense why this won the Palme.

But again, I consistently find myself more interested in everything surrounding the picture itself, which is a testament to it’s quality. I want to know everything about Sandra as she is put on trial, and that’s kind of the miracle of the film isn’t it? Forcing the audience to be complicit in the same kind of media frenzy that these kinds of cases tend to receive? Anatomy of a Fall‘s brilliance isn’t simply in how it’s made, it’s in how it upends and deceives you, and that my friends is not just talent. That’s magic.