A Cannes-winning Thriller

The psychosexual-legal thriller “Anatomy of Fall” is a gripping drama set in a woody cabin in the French Alps. The film won the Palme d’Or at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival and is director Justine Triet's philosophical inquiry into the interpersonal moral obligation of marriage. It follows a jarring public scrutiny of a marriage between an established German-born writer, Sandra Voyter (Sandra Hüller), and her French-born writer husband, Samuel Maleski (Samuel Theis).

The tension of the film is felt in the opening scene. Sandra is being interviewed by a graduate student, Zoe Solidor (Camille Rutherford). Samual is playing an instrumental version of “P.I.M.P.” by 50 Cent at a roaring volume, annoyed at the flirtatious undertone of the wife’s interview. 

The interview gets cut short, and Samuel’s intentional interruption succeeds. The next thing we know, Samuel has fallen from the attic and is found dead by their 11-year-old blind son Daniel (Milo Machado Graner). Sandra confesses she was asleep until she heard Daniel, who is now a prime suspect. The circumstances led to an investigation. Lawyer Vincent Renzi (Swann Arlaud) comes to aid. Vincent is uncertain of Sandra’s standing. The film then follows the trail into a breathtaking courtroom drama. 

The intensity of most thrillers is felt during the show. I have rarely found myself having to watch the movie again and reread a thriller. Once the thrill is over, it's over, and every subsequent interaction with the content of such themes is less engaging. This is not the case with The Anatomy of a Fall. The wit of the film lies in its ability to make the audience want to watch it again, re-hear the intricate dialogues that occur between the main characters, and the subtlety of emotions in Sandra’s incredible performance. It leaves the audience deeply unsettled at the end. It makes the audience reflect on their own relationships. 

“I wanted to show how a woman might come under attack precisely because of her intelligence, ambition, and mental fortitude,” Triet said in one of the interviews. The film questions a wife’s standing in a marriage, the expectations of society from a wife, and society's earnest discomfort with a successful woman who is not sorry for who she is. Sandra, a bisexual woman, is an applauded, ambitious, and confident writer and translator. While Samuel is struggling with his writing, the guilt of his son Daniel’s accident, which led to his blindness, weighs him down. 

Sandra's character and choices are evidence of the murder after Samuel's death. The ruthless prosecution lawyer (Antoine Reinartz) garners the plot from her published writing as evidence that she is capable of killing her husband. Fights, guilt, trauma, and incidents are arbitrarily picked as arguments by the prosecution. This is the trick Triet plays on us till the end of the film; we are always left hanging, not sure what to make of it all. Did he kill himself? Did the mother and son conspire? Were they evil if they did? Or was it all a work of fate? We never know.

We find out shortly before Samuel’s death that he recorded parts of his life for literary inspiration. He also records a fight where they argue over responsibilities and Sandra’s infidelity, and he blames Sandra for plagiarism. The marriage was conflicted. 

However, Sandra is not ready to compress herself to aid her husband's insecurities. The chills and frost of the Alps are in parallel to Sandra’s personality. She is enigmatic. During the prosecution, when infidelity, guilt, and remorse within the couple's private four walls all scatter in the courtroom in front of everyone, she is not shaken; she is calm. The camera is placed down on her in the courtroom, asserting the idea that she is dominant.

Sandra and her son, Daniel, are mature characters. Daniel's pet dog, Snoop, is an exceptional performer. Triet gets her audience to reach where she wants them. We initially feel like we are the detectives or the jury, but we end up feeling more like Sandra or Samuel. However, the main judge here is Daniel, and he is also the judge who passes the judgement at the end. The legal prosecution is free flowing, but we do not care anymore because we are too involved. That is the beauty of Triet storytelling. She doesn’t care about your judgement of her character. There is a murder mystery that needs to be solved. But solving the mystery is never the point of the film. What is more nerve-wracking about this drama is an unexpected question asked to the audience: What if you were Samuel or Sandra? 

Tried has weaved a narrative that goes beyond fiction, forcing the audience to look at the narrative society sets. It is the exploration of human relationships between a husband and wife, a mother and a son, and the institution of marriage.

The film portrays modernist perspectives such as fragmentation of narrative, exploration of subjectivity, alienation, dislocation, experimental technique, and existential themes. It challenges traditional linear narrative structures, opting instead for a fragmented storytelling approach with non-linear sequences and disjointed scenes. This fragmentation mirrors the uncertainties and complexities of both the legal system and the psychological states of the characters. 

By utilising experimental techniques such as unconventional cinematography, editing, and narrative style, the film pushes the boundaries of traditional filmmaking, evoking a sense of disorientation and unease in the audience. In conclusion, "Anatomy of a Fall" makes the point that every marriage is a thriller of its own, and the truth is not so objective. Within the framework of a court drama, it offers a thematic exploration of existential issues, psychological depth, and formal experimentation that aligns with a modernist interpretation.

(Koirala is studying master's in English literature at Jawaharlal Nehru University.)