A German novelist is tried for the murder of her husband after he is found dead in the snow outside their French chalet. The trial reconstructs their marriage through evidence that proves nothing and casts suspicion on everything. Justine Triet's Palme d'Or winner is about how courts tell stories and what truth can survive a legal proceeding.
Anatomy of a Fall is a 2023 drama, mystery and thriller film directed by Justine Triet. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (4 narrative), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, A Separation uses several of the same techniques.
Staging a trial as a performance, with testimony and cross-examination played like theater. The rules can bring out the truth, or they can hide a verdict that was decided in advance.
How this film uses it
Triet uses the trial to take apart the institution of marriage, and solving the murder is fairly secondary. Each testimony and cross-examination gives a different reading of the same relationship. The courtroom is a machine for producing competing stories.
Where to see it
The audio recording of the couple's argument, played in court. The prosecution and the defense hear the same sounds as evidence of 2 entirely different marriages.
Telling the story through a character you can't trust, because they are lying, mentally unwell or fooling themselves. At some point, you have to rethink what you were told.
How this film uses it
Triet refuses to show the fall. The film's central event is rebuilt only through testimony, inference and the conflicting readings of people with a stake in the outcome. The question of what happened stays permanently open.
Where to see it
The multiple reconstructions of Samuel's death offered by competing experts. Each one is plausible and each one supports a different verdict. None of them can be proven true.
Keeping the camera away from a key event and giving conflicting accounts of it equal weight. You can't work out what really happened, and that uncertainty is the experience of the film.
How this film uses it
Triet gives you no inside view of the truth. Sandra may be guilty or she may be innocent, and the film never reveals which. That refusal is its central argument about what legal systems and marriages can really know.
Where to see it
The verdict. The film lets it land as both a relief and an open question. You are left unsure if justice was done.
Watching events from a measured distance with no swelling music, tear-jerking close-ups or showy camera moves. The film trusts what happens to carry the weight on its own.
How this film uses it
Triet films Sandra with the same uncertainty the court has about her. The film neither condemns her nor clears her. It watches her react to testimony about her own marriage with a face that could mean anything.
Where to see it
Sandra listening to her husband's voice on the audio recording. The camera is close on her face, and her unreadable expression holds the film's whole unanswerable question.
Questions
Anatomy of a Fall: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Anatomy of a Fall use?
CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Anatomy of a Fall (2023): Legal Theater, Unreliable Narrator, Audience Truth Withholding and Observational Restraint.
Who directed Anatomy of a Fall?
Justine Triet directed Anatomy of a Fall, released in 2023. CineCode also covers Sibyl (2019).
What films are similar to Anatomy of a Fall?
Films that share techniques with Anatomy of a Fall include A Separation (2011), Tár (2022), Monster (2023), The Shining (1980).
