“Anatomy of a Fall”, a gripping French judicial thriller
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French cinema raises its crest in the Cannes competition: after the mediocre “Le retour” by Catherine Corsini and the very weak “Black Flies” (American production, but directed by transalpine director Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire), Justine’s new feature film is positively striking Triet, titled “Anatomy of a Fall”.
The French director and screenwriter had shown good hand with “La bataille de Solférino” of 2013, before getting lost a bit with “All Victoria’s men” of 2016 and “Sibyl” of 2019.
With this new film he returns to his best levels, starting from a narrative base that is already very interesting in itself. Set in a remote area of the French Alps, the film stars Sandra, a German writer who lives in a mountain chalet with her husband Samuel and their eleven-year-old son Daniel. One day Samuel is found dead, immersed in the snow in front of his house. The investigators suspect that it may not be suicide and decide to investigate, ending up incriminating the man’s wife. During the trial, when the woman is questioned about her relationship with her husband, the portrait of a difficult and tormented relationship emerges: Sandra shows a sometimes disturbed personality and her son, forced to assist, experiences a deep inner conflict. Opened by a highly engaging incipit, which ends with a series of photographs accompanying the opening credits, “Anatomy of a Fall” is a film that thinks right from the start on the relationship between reality and fiction. Both writers, the two spouses suffered a trauma that made them increasingly distant and which will come to light several times during the process: a few years earlier, their son Daniel suffered an accident that deprived him of his sight and which led the couple to a crisis then persisted over time.
Great performance by Sandra Hüller
While many steps in the process may appear rather conventional, the remarkable script, co-written by Justine Triet with Arthur Harari, is tight and gripping to the very end, thanks to a series of highly incisive dialogues. Among these, there is a very powerful flashback which takes place over the first half of the film, in which we discover the husband’s face and witness their ferocious discussion, which they are hearing in the courtroom through a recording: the themes brought into play – starting with the sense of guilt and constant frustration of their relationship – they are very tough and believable at the same time, again thanks to a very carefully written script. Although all the cast work quite well, a very special mention goes to the great performance of Sandra Hüller in the role of the protagonist: the German actress has already demonstrated her talent in the past (let’s think of “Requiem”, or “Meet Toni Erdmann”), but here she surpasses herself by giving the most convincing interpretation of her entire career and could start among the favorites for La Palma as best actress.
It should be remembered that, again in competition at Cannes, there is also another excellent film in which he stars: “The Zone of Interest” by Jonathan Glazer. Banel & Adama “Banel & Adama” was also presented in the running for the Palme d’Or Adama” by Ramata-Toulaye Sy, director born in Paris in 1986 of Senegalese parents. The only first film in competition this year at Cannes, the film stars two young people who live in a village in northern Senegal. Very much in love, the two want to be together at all costs, so much so that Adama decides to give up his future role as head of the village in order to spend all the time available with Banel. however, he ends up playing too much, recalling the cinema of other authors (Terrence Malick, already in the first images) and demonstrating that he still has a rather immature hand.
The form is at times very suggestive, so much so that it manages to make up for a rather weak content, but it is not enough to hide the limits of an operation which, with the exception of some elegant aesthetic choices, risks being forgotten rather quickly.
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