Sharp, Affecting Courtroom Drama Anatomy of a Fall Interrogates a Marriage

Anatomy of a Fall is the tale of a stone-cold female author who steals her husband’s book idea, then mercilessly murders him. It’s also the sorry story of a widow who must defend herself in court after her depressed husband commits suicide by jumping from the attic window of their remote home in the French Alps. The truth remains ambiguous; we may learn the ending of the trial, but we will never know what really happened. The facts of the case: Sandra Voyter (Sandra Hüller) is a writer whose books often borrow from her life—the death of her mother, the emotional rift from her father, and the accident that left her 11-year-old son Daniel (Milo Machado-Graner) partially blind. Her husband Samuel (Samuel Theis), also a writer, was unable to pick Daniel up from school on time, leading to the accident, and thus blamed himself. One morning, Daniel goes on a walk with his dog Snoop and returns to find his father dead in the snow. Sandra, the only other person present in the house at the time, is the prime suspect, although she claims she was asleep.

Although filmmaker Justine Triet leaves the ending ambiguous, it’s fairly easy to parse which of these two films she set out to make. Sandra might be an icy protagonist, but Triet’s view of her is largely sympathetic. Triet takes Basic Instinct’s sexy salaciousness and shrouds it in a thick cable knit turtleneck, simultaneously looking down on it and trotting it out when the courtroom procedural gets too tedious. Anatomy of a Fall shows a little bit of leg, never the whole pussy. Triet employed this same tactic in Sibyl, another drama she co-wrote with her romantic partner Arthur Harari about a writer who borrows from her life experience. That film may be a bit less even in tone than Anatomy of a Fall, but even then Triet made it clear that her filmmaking style is more elevated than the “trashy” genre films that came before. What made watching Sibyl so frustrating in 2019, and what still frustrates me about Anatomy of a Fall now, is Triet’s refusal to really go there, instead favoring intellectual posturing. When Triet should make a daring move, she instead buttons her collar up to her neck. 

The ever-present and utterly tame perspective of the media, for example, adds little to Anatomy of a Fall. This may be more a symptom of polite European news coverage, but the most damning thing a talk show host does in the film is read a quote from one of Sandra’s books. In a film more daring in its critique of the media, you might see a Joan Rivers-like media figure cracking inappropriate jokes about Sandra’s frigid demeanor.

In contrast, the best moment in Anatomy of a Fall is one of tense passion, showing Sandra and Samuel battling it out in flashback via an audio recording he made without her knowledge, the day before his death. They may be world-famous writers who seem to have it all, but they have a lively argument over the same things every other couple argues over: Money, infidelity and, most of all, the division of labor in the household. Who does more for the family, who makes more time for their son? These arguments are as old as time, but what sets Sandra and Samuel apart from ordinary couples, fame aside, is their inability to discuss these issues without getting violent and irrational. This explosive moment puts the main question that is quietly present in our lives squarely into focus: If your romantic life were put under the scrutiny of the law, without time for preparation, would you come out as the victim or the perpetrator?

Marriage is often messier than just “victim versus perpetrator,” but the courts must have a black-and-white version of things in order to uphold the law. Since Sandra must prove herself innocent of murder, her main initiative becomes convincing the court that her husband committed suicide, even though she has no physical evidence of this and doesn’t even believe it herself. I’m quick to characterize Sandra as cold not just because she’s a blonde German woman, but because of Samuel’s previous suicide attempt, which she calls to memory at the perfect time. If Samuel previously attempted suicide, then she made zero attempt at getting him help—irresponsible at best and heartless at worst. If she was worried about Samuel’s suicidal ideation, she didn’t show it, when he was alive or dead. 

This is not to say that Sandra is to blame for Samuel’s suicide, but if you’ve vowed yourself to someone in marriage, it would make sense to show some concern if they attempt to take their own life—and doing so before showing that concern could result in material gains for yourself, such as keeping you out of prison. Triet may have sympathy for Sandra, but I see her as a selfish woman focused only on herself and her writing career, to the point that she blinds herself completely to her husband’s depression, even after his death. 

While it may be fun to debate whether or not Sandra is guilty, Anatomy of a Fall is most compelling as a picture of a grieving child working his way through his father’s death. Its interrogation of a marriage is a touch too clinical to deliver any real dramatic gut punches, due both to the nature of the procedural genre and Sandra’s chilly personality. But Machado-Graner’s tear-jerking performance as a heartbroken kid searching for impossible answers after discovering his father’s lifeless corpse is another story. Watching Daniel move through the stages of his grief, from bedridden depression to finding some semblance of peace, is what makes this story worth it. Sandra’s fate rests with Daniel’s court testimony; so too does the arc of the film. Machado-Graner’s tears push past “generic sad kid” and plumb the depths of distress to discover a newfound, authentic optimism in Daniel’s dark circumstances. Shading the role further, a science experiment Daniel performs involving Snoop and some aspirin leads to stellar dog acting that goes far beyond simply playing dead (and earned a well-deserved Palm Dog win).

Earlier this year, Anatomy of a Fall became the first film to take home both the Palm Dog and the Palme d’Or from Cannes. The past five Palme d’Or winners have changed the way I perceive so many different genres, from dark comedy (Jury President Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness and The Square), to body horror (Titane) and crime (Parasite and Shoplifters, for completely different reasons). Anatomy of a Fall may not reinvent the wheel, but it’s still one of the most sharply made courtroom dramas in recent memory. 

Director: Justine Triet
Writers: Justine Triet, Arthur Harari 
Starring: Sandra Hüller, Milo Machado-Graner, Swann Arlaud, Samuel Theis
Release Date: October 13, 2023

Brooklyn-based film writer Katarina Docalovich was raised in an independent video store and never really left. Her passions include sipping lime seltzer, trying on perfume and spending hours theorizing about Survivor. You can find her scattered thoughts as well as her writing on Twitter.