REVIEW: Anatomie d’une chute [Anatomy of a Fall] [2023]

Rating: R | Runtime: 151 minutes
Release Date: August 23rd, 2023 (France) / October 13th, 2023 (USA)
Studio: Le Pacte / Neon
Director(s): Justine Triet
Writer(s): Justine Triet and Arthur Harari

Nobody’s going to believe that.

A URL appears right before the Neon logo flashes on-screen: didshedoit.com. It’s an intriguing tease for what’s to come and an even more relevant landing page for post-screening conversation once you have all the facts and speculations to decide for yourself. Because you will have to decide. Justine Triet and co-writer Arthur Harari very intentionally refuse to do it for you. So, don’t expect to see how Samuel Maleski (Samuel Theis) actually dies. That’s not the point. Neither is guilt since there will never be enough evidence to prove anything either way.

What is the point then? Our fear of uncertainty. That’s what Anatomy of a Fall truly boils down to considering all anyone has (including judge and jury) is objective scaffolding for a truth that can go two ways depending on the architect’s subjective desires. The semantics battle waged in the courtroom between prosecutor (Antoine Reinartz) and defense attorney (Swann Arlaud’s Renzi) as far as the difference between “probable” and “possible” says it all. Facts will have to take a backseat. They’ll need to rely on emotion instead.

That’s why the website is necessary. Not as a gimmick, but as a communal interpretive device for the film. We become the jury. We weigh the testimony and decide which way our gut takes us. As such, we actually get more runway than those on-screen since they must decide whether the prosecution proved Sandra Voyter’s (Sandra Hüller) guilt beyond a shadow of a doubt. We are free of that constraint. We, like the prosecution so vehemently wants, get to create the fantasy we feel fits the details best. And there are no wrong answers.

The result is an impeccably crafted courtroom drama with some heavy moments meant to jumpstart our imagination. Is it Top Ten material? Not for me. Does it merit its Palme d’Or win? Definitely. All solid films do since the award is about consensus and they often prove heady enough to feel worthy despite never taking a truly big swing. And that’s okay because Triet doesn’t need one. The film’s success lies in its ability to make us take that swing for it. It presents the ambiguity of a death and asks us to ascribe meaning whether murder, suicide, or accident.

Think of it as a litmus test. Are you a Sandra (Hüller deserves to be in the Best Actress Oscar conversation) or a Samuel? Does the evidence point to a troubled marriage and power struggle or the unfortunate self-made frustration of a man willing to find escape by any means necessary? Like so much of the movie, a crucial fight between husband and wife is expertly constructed to feel one-sided in both directions depending on where you reside. Triet is daring us to choose just as Sandra and Samuel’s young, blind son Daniel (Milo Machado Graner) must too.

And that’s why the more interesting question and potential sibling URL should be didhelie.com. In the heat of the moment, he probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.