Anatomy of a Fall

2023

2h 31m

IMDb RATING

7.5/10

2.7K

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Thriller

Mystery

Crime

A woman is suspected of her husband's murder, and their blind son faces a moral dilemma as the sole witness.

Directors

Justine Triet

Writers

Arthur Harari(screenplay by)

Justine Triet(screenplay by)

Stars

Sandra Hüller

Swann Arlaud

Milo Machado-Graner

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Top cast

Sandra Voyter

Maître Vincent Renzi

Daniel

Advocate General

Samuel Maleski

Marge Berger

Maître Nour Boudaoud

Zoé Solidor

President of the Court

Sophie Fillières

Monica

Julien Comte

Forensic Pathologist

Pierre-François Garel

Judge Janvier

Savannah Rol

Constable …

Iliès Kadri

Constable …

Vincent Courcelle-Labrousse

Prosecutor

Cécile Brunet-Ludet

Judge Bollène

Nesrine Slaoui

BFM Journalist

Antoine Bueno

Expert Balard

Directors

Justine Triet

Writers

Arthur Harari(screenplay by)

Justine Triet(screenplay by)

All cast & crew

Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

It’s always disappointing when a film aspires to greatness that it never achieves. Such is the case with the latest offering from French writer-director Justine Triet, whose allegedly suspenseful thriller is about as appetizing as a plate of tepid leftovers. This crime investigation/courtroom drama about the mysterious death of a middle-aged unsuccessful writer (Samuel Theis) who falls from the second story of his mountain chalet looks into whether his demise is due to suicide or murder, with his wife (Sandra Hüller), herself a best-selling author, being the prime suspect. Despite an intriguing premise, however, the movie is overlong, needlessly talky and inherently flat, with a cold, clinical, unengaging narrative and characters who engender no connection, compassion or empathy. In essence, this is a “whodunnit” that plays like an extended “whocares.” Fault the screenplay here, which seeks to tell a tale in the same gripping vein as such great courtroom dramas as “Anatomy of a Murder” (1959) but that never achieves the level of tension, mystery and audience engagement needed to pull that off. The meticulously orchestrated script feels calculated and derivative virtually from start to finish, especially in its trial sequences, which explore an array of possible motives and explanations, including everything from infidelity to plagiarism to previous suicide attempts, that rely on often-implausible speculation and inflated conjecture to carry forward a proceeding that probably never should have ended up in court in the first place. What’s more, the double entendre that is the picture’s title is so obvious that any hopes of nuance, subtlety or profundity evaporate quickly once the failing nature of the couple’s troubled relationship surfaces. While the film admittedly features a fine performance by Hüller, it’s far from enough to rescue a picture with big aspirations that never pan out. How this release has garnered so much exaggerated awards season buzz is beyond me, especially given its intrinsically insipid, underwhelming, overstated character. There are plenty of other films of this ilk out there that are far more worth watching than this one, so grab one of those better selections instead and give this one the well-earned pass it genuinely deserves.

Brent_Marchant05 Jan, 2024