The entertainment discourse whenever Academy Award nominations come out is about snubs and omissions. Happens every year. But while a vast majority were shocked that neither director Greta Gerwig nor star Margot Robbie were nominated for Barbie, little attention was given to the fact that the Best Picture race had three films from female filmmakers. Two of the three contained mostly non-English dialogue. One of them also won the Palme d’Or (Cannes Film Festival’s highest prize). That film was Anatomy of a Fall, directed by Justine Triet and starring Sandra Hüller.
A writing couple living in a mountain chalet near Grenoble have a modest life. Sandra Voyter (Hüller) has a new book while her husband, Samuel (Samuel Theis), is at a professional impasse, turning to lecturing at a nearby university. Ill at ease when a student journalist comes to the house to do an interview with Sandra, Samuel retreats to the attic and begins to play loud music. Their son, Daniel (Milo Machado-Graner), visually impaired, is outside exploring the grounds with his guide dog Snoop. But when they return home Samuel is sprawled out dead in the snow, the white powder stained red from his bloodied head.
Triet goes through the procedural beats of a medical examination for cause of death and detectives starting their investigation. At first it looks like an accidental fall, but information leads to questions and those questions lead to Sandra as a murder suspect in her husband’s death. Working with an old friend and lawyer (Swann Arlaud) in mounting a defense, a highly publicized trial commences. Sandra also becomes separated from her son through a court order so as to not influence his testimony.
Accounts as to Samuel’s death are argued before a French court where the rules are looser than those found in America. It’s quite a stage: The courtroom has a rounded architecture for the judging panel, the accused is separated off, and the lawyers stand across on opposite sides as if they were about to be unleashed into gladiatorial combat. Yet, for French trials, it is the defendant and not her lawyer that does most of the arguing.
Anatomy of a Fall’s narrative is a mosaic of legal proceedings and past episodes offering credence that Sandra’s relationship with her husband may not have been idyllic as their cozy mountain chalet would argue. At first, comparing U.S. courts to the French legal system draws interest, but the story isn’t really about the dead husband at all. As for a whodunit, Anatomy of a Fall is not a puzzle in need of solution. In fact, I’d argue having a loose thread or two is what separates Triat’s courtroom drama from the legal eagle procedurals that have dominated American television for more than a half century. Those wanting a clear cut, decisive resolution may be underwhelmed after making the 151 minute commitment. Still, Sandra Hüller delivers a commanding, Oscar-nominated performance as a distraught, aggrieved widow whose guilt or innocence could swing with Daniel’s testimony before closing arguments.
If you are feeling adventurous and want to see why critics and cinephiles were buzzing about Justine Triet’s latest and one of the best, unexpected performances of the past year (hint: it’s not a human), definitely check out Anatomy of a Fall. Then you can later gloat to friends about why – to paraphrase The Princess Bride –France fell victim to one of the classic blunders by choosing The Taste of Others to represent the country in the Best International Feature Film category at the Oscars.
Anatomy of a Fall is a special feature-laden title with several extras related to young actor Milo Machado-Graner. They include his auditions (along with Antoine Reinartz – who plays the prosecutor) and rehearsal footage working with the casting director and codirector of actors Cynthia Arra. His guide dog, Snoop, has a behind the scenes featurette, originally produced for French television. Alternate and deleted scenes, and the original U.S. theatrical trailer are included as well.
It was while perusing the selection of extras Criterion included with the Blu-ray release that a connection to another recent Oscar nominee began to form. My familiarity with Justine Triet’s work was minute, so when she discusses her background as a documentarian and the film’s production in a half hour supplemental feature, I thought about Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes. I missed it during awards season, but Criterion has released it as part of its Janus Contemporaries line of first-run film titles in association with the Criterion Channel. For his new documentary, Sen followed New Delhi brothers Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad for more than year, watching as they rescued birds of prey and rehabilitated them from urban pollution.
These birds, the black kites, were literally falling from the sky – fall, another parallel to Triet’s drama. Charting the siblings as they ruminate on humankind and its relationship to the environment with the backdrop of India’s instability with anti-Muslim violence ongoing, there’s never been a documentary like All That Breathes. Sen approaches the subject cinematically, using a team of cinematographers to capture the connective tissue of humans and animals existing together. From the opening shot I was captivated; my eyes fixated on a dark space as cars pass on the road behind. As the camera slowly moves position, and the sounds shrouded in darkness increase, beams of light enter the frame. (Once you see the source of the noise you’ll be squeamish and fascinated.) Sen also juxtaposes between the cramped conditions where Saud and Shehzad perform animal surgeries to the smoke-filled skies above Delhi. The disharmonious acuity carries over in other facets: humans and nature, and within humanity itself as religious hatred explodes into riots.
By enlarging the canvas of documentary film, All That Breathes is a visual poem that is reflective and sobering in its soulfulness.
The Blu-ray release includes an interview with Sen where he talks about making a cinematic documentary and being influenced by the likes of Victor Kossakovsky (Gunda), Andrei Tarkovsky (Mirror), and Werner Herzog (Encounters at the End of the World).
Anatomy of a Fall
Grade: A-
All That Breathes
Grade: B+
