Anatomy of a Fall – 8

A French psycho-drama from Justine Triet and production company “didshedoit.com,” which is the movie’s hook. The director prejudiced the question whether the husband’s fall was a suicide or a murder by making the prosecution witnesses bombastic and the prosecutor smarmy and not good-looking, as against a sympathetic defendant (a measured and marvelous Sandra Huller) and her handsome lawyer with fabulous hair. In the end, one felt the suicide unlikely and the murder impossible. We did feel that the husband’s actions were aimed at his next book, while it was more certain that what transpired would end up in his wife’s. Years of watching Spiral made us comfortable with a trial in which half the “evidence” would not be admissible in a U.S. court. And both 10-year-old Daniel and dog Snoop were used to good effect. Most of all, the film raised questions and begged for discussion afterward, reminding us how rewarding the European (French) cinema can be, without special effects, more than two sets or, presumably, much of a budget.