Anatomy of a Fall
When a film has won the Palme D’Or at Cannes and also a Golden Globe for best screenplay, I tend to sit up and take notice. Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall (2023) managed this feat, so I was keen to check it out.
Written by Triet and Arthur Harari and directed by Triet, it is a film that explores ambiguity and judgement, and how when data is examined closely it can sometimes be so complex as to make rapid decisions deeply unsafe.
A domestic thriller, the film stars Sandra Huller as Sandra, a successful English-speaking writer of German extraction married to a French teacher, Samuel, played by Samuel Theis. Having initially lived in London together they moved several years ago at his request to his childhood home region in the French Alps. Their son Daniel - beautifully portrayed by the young Milo Machado-Graner, is a sensitive boy devoted to his dog Snoop.
At first glance, the location looks idyllic - a cosy multi-floored wooden chalet amidst stunning scenery perched on the mountain, surrounded by snow with a nearby brook. But life is rarely as it seems on the surface.