Warning: This review contains spoilers for the 2023 film “Anatomy of a Fall”
“It’s just, you know, when you lose, you lose. It’s the worst thing that can happen, and if you win… you expect some reward. But there isn’t any. It’s just over,” is the harrowing revelation that Sandra (Sandra Hüller) delivers in the final 10 minutes of the film “Anatomy of a Fall”(2023). It’s a quiet moment that encapsulates the miserable, yet deeply-human void that lies underneath the viewer’s naive expectation of catharsis. Now nominated for Best Picture at the upcoming Academy Awards, “Anatomy of a Fall” is a French court drama that focuses on a successful writer accused of murdering her husband (Samuel Theis) who is found bleeding below their house. The only witness? Their blind son, Daniel (Milo Machado Graner).
Similar to a butcher at work, director Justine Triet splays out a calamitous marriage on top of a table and brutally dissects it. Resentment, betrayal, and disappointment – all organs that she seizes and twists out. Through the trial, the viewer is granted a voyeuristic view of Sandra and Samuel’s matrimony. Every detail and argument is scrutinized to an uncomfortable degree. The case against Sandra is largely grounded in deriding her character. As the prosecution picks apart her failures as a wife and mother, the film echoes sentiments of the Madonna-whore dichotomy. Sandra’s failure to fit within the perimeter of the “perfect” woman has an impending effect on how she is perceived by the court. The trial is thus representative of a feminist subtext that lingers throughout the film. Though “Barbie” (2023) was unanimously crowned by viewers as the year’s go-to feminist flick, “Anatomy of a Fall” has much more nuanced things to say about womanhood (so much so that it makes the aforementioned doll movie appear more ‘plastic’ in its interior).
“Anatomy of a Fall” is an absolute masterpiece in screenwriting that cuts straight to the bone. Angered at her husband’s woeful sense of victimhood and the bitter blame he places upon her, Sandra shouts: “Your generosity conceals something dirtier and meaner!” Hüller’s delivery of that line has been faithfully ringing in my mind since I watched the film. She sells Sandra’s rage in such a powerful way to the viewer. Her performance throughout “Anatomy of a Fall” is some of the most incredible acting I have ever seen.
Though “Anatomy of a Fall” is marketed as a “whodunnit,” the question of Sandra’s guilt is shown to be irrelevant, even as she is acquitted. The film is distinctly ambiguous in answering whether Samuel was pushed to his death or if it was merely suicide. This is an intentional choice, as Triet is interested in examining how we tell ourselves certain “truths” to live and in doing so, decide our own reality. We will never know if Sandra is innocent, but as her lawyer (Swann Arlaud) states: “That’s not the point.” It denotes Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, in which the prisoner’s “reality” are the shadows that they see before them. Our perception is what decides the “truth.” Sandra was always going to be at the whim of public opinion, not the reality of what occurred.
Prior to his decisive testimony, Daniel is racked with an intense moral dilemma. His court-assigned guardian tells him that he must choose what he believes, even if he isn’t sure. In the end, Daniel provides the judge with a memory of his father telling him that he must prepare for a life without their dog named Snoop. In retrospect, Daniel understands that Samuel meant himself; however, it is left blurred whether or not this memory was falsified. But again, it doesn’t matter. Daniel’s “reality” is the love he feels for his mother and that is enough to command his belief.
“Anatomy of a Fall” also probes the way in which we search for bogeymen to make sense of inexplicable tragedy. A straightforward depiction of “evil” would ironically be comforting for viewers; however, the ending of the film is more indicative of the universe’s banal cruelty.
Sandra is not left with any sense of vindication, rather a glaring hole inside of her as she reckons with the loss of her husband. There is a scene where Sandra watches people on a talk show discuss her case. They grin as they discuss just how interesting it would be if the prominent writer had, in fact, murdered her husband. It lambasts true crime and how people latch onto sensationalized narratives, effectively turning another’s tragedy into their own pleasurable commodity.
At its very heart, “Anatomy of a Fall” is deeply human and proudly exhibits gray truths rather than absolutes. It is a refreshingly subtle tale, ripe with substance and complexity.