A Spoiler-Free Review of "Anatomy of a Fall", the Smart Murder Mystery that Won Over Cannes

...and why I think you should aim to see Justine Triet's masterpiece on the big screen

German actor Sandra Hüller stars as the central protagonist in Triet’s subtle yet gripping 2023 film. Promo image from NEON

Dear Subscribers,

I don’t make it to the cinema nearly as often as I once did, for reasons that are probably too tedious to name. But when I do, there’s an intense joy in getting to see things on the big screen again— especially after being deprived during the pandemic. And some films almost require the intimacy and sensory intensity of a dark theatre.

Justine Triet’s “Anatomie d’une Chute” (Anatomy of a Fall) is one of these. After snagging the Palme d’Or prize at Cannes this year, it was released in Europe, the UK and the US with predictably limited distribution, being a film partly in French with “arty” credentials.

Yet I think this is a film that has the potential to win over a much wider audience than would “normally” flock to a French arthouse joint. For one thing, it has none of the meandering (and frustrating?) narrative qualities that the genre is so often associated with.

Nope. There’s a juicy psychological and legal puzzle at the heart of this gorgeously-shot, subtly executed and satisfyingly probed murder mystery. Triet— who also co-wrote the screenplay with her partner Arthur Harari— seems to luxuriate in drawing it out for us, frame by sumptuous frame, with the snowcapped Alps looming (menacingly?) in the background through most of it.