Receiving one of the most prestigious awards on the film calendar will always set a film apart, bringing more intense scrutiny with it. For 2023’s Palme d’Or winner, ANATOMY OF A FALL, claiming the high prize of Cannes Film Festival is a poisoned chalice, in which the film is perfectly fine (and even threatens greatness at certain points), but expectations for audiences are then set just high enough to feel unattainable. For director Justine Triet, this ironically resembles the marriage that weaves itself between the threads of her plot in ANATOMY OF A FALL, where a catalyst strips bare the inherent messiness of a modern relationship. For Triet, the catalyst for scrutiny is the Palme d’Or; for ANATOMY OF A FALL, it’s a death.
The death in question is that of Samuel Maleski (Samuel Theis), whose dead body is found having fallen three stories, the blood protruding from a fatal head wound staining the snow around his secluded family home, the abode a frosty prison miles away from other people. Before his body is found, we are introduced to the varying relationship dynamics within the family, such as the emotional distance between Samuel and his wife, Sandra Voyter (an exceptional Sandra Hüller). She struggles to conduct an interview due to Samuel’s repetitive playing of the instrumental version of 50 Cent’s P.I.M.P on an exceedingly loud volume. After stopping the interview early because of the music, each character goes their separate way. Their son, Daniel (Milo Machado-Graner), escapes the deafening music by taking the dog for a walk, and Sandra, headphones in, begins transcribing the interview. Returning from the walk is when Daniel finds his lifeless paternal figure, the rap instrumental reverberating through the house on the same loop as it was before Sandra and Daniel’s departures. How Samuel’s body got there is where Triet dives into the fallacy of appearances, as Sandra is soon blamed regardless of compelling evidence of it being an accident. Her flimsy alibi, Daniel’s potential testimony of an argument just before Samuel’s death and the delayed mention of an apparent suicide attempt made by her husband leave her the prime and only suspect.
This review was posted on November 7th 2023. Full review linked below.
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