Anatomy of a Fall

Anatomy of a Fall
File:Anatomy of a Fall (2023) film poster.jpg U.S. theatrical release poster
Directed by	Justine Triet
Produced by	Marie-Ange Luciani David Thion
Written by	Justine Triet Arthur Harari
Starring	Sandra Hüller Swann Arlaud Milo Machado-Graner Antoine Reinartz Samuel Theis Jehnny Beth Saadia Bentaieb Camille Rutherford Anne Rotger Sophie Fillières
Cinematography	Simon Beaufils
Edited by	Laurent Sénéchal
Production company	Les Films Pelléas Les Films de Pierre
Distributed by	Le Pacte
Release dates	21 May 2023 (2023-05-21) (Cannes) 23 August 2023 (2023-08-23) (France)
Running time	150 minutes
Country	France
Language	French English German
Budget	€6.2 million
Box office	$7 million

Anatomy of a Fall (French: Anatomie d'une chute) is a 2023 French courtroom drama thriller film directed by Justine Triet from a screenplay co-written by Triet and Arthur Harari. It stars Sandra Hüller as a writer trying to prove her innocence in her husband's death.

Anatomy of a Fall had its world premiere at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on 21 May 2023, where it won the Palme d'Or and the Palm Dog Award and competed for the Queer Palm. It was released theatrically in France by Le Pacte on 23 August 2023.

The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with Triet's direction and Hüller's performance garnering universal critical acclaim. It has sold over 1 million admissions in France.

Plot summary

Sandra, a German writer, is arrested for murder in France following her husband's death in the snow under mysterious circumstances. Having the couple's 11-year-old, blind son as the only witness of her husband's death, Sandra tries to prove her innocence during the trial.

Cast

• Sandra Hüller as Sandra
• Swann Arlaud as Vincent
• Milo Machado-Graner as Daniel
• Antoine Reinartz as the Prosecutor
• Samuel Theis as Samuel
• Jehnny Beth as Marge
• Saadia Bentaieb as Nour
• Camille Rutherford as Zoé
• Anne Rotger as the President
• Sophie Fillières as Monica

Production

Development

On 10 July 2021, Variety reported that Les Films Pelléas and Les Films de Pierre would co-produce Justine Triet's fourth feature film, Anatomie d'une chute, co-written by Triet and Arthur Harari, and described as "a Hitchcockian procedural thriller".

Triet wrote Anatomy of a Fall for Sandra Hüller, marking their second collaboration following the 2019 film Sibyl. When Hüller was cast in the role of a German writer who is accused of murdering her French husband in France, Triet told the actress that the language would be an important subject in the film. Hüller wanted to speak French in the film, but Triet rejected the idea. "The fact she is a German who speaks English and tries to speak French that creates lots of masks and clouds the issue, creating more confusion around who she is," Triet told Deadline. On set, Hüller repeatedly asked Triet whether her character was guilty or not, but the director refused to answer. Hüller's real-life black Weimaraner dog played the dog Dilla in the film.

Triet said that the starting point of Anatomy of a Fall was that she wanted to make another trial film for a long time since her 2016 film In Bed with Victoria. "I really wanted to address the legal issue in its smallest details, to address the issues of the couple, of living together. It was also a pretext to dissect every bit of their life," she told Paris Match. Triet also said she was fascinated by the Amanda Knox case, which involved a young American woman accused of murdering her roommate Meredith Kercher in Italy in 2007.

Filming

Principal photography began at the end of February 2022 and wrapped on 13 May 2022. Filming took place mostly in the region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, such as in Maurienne and Villarembert in Savoie, and in Montbonnot-Saint-Martin and Grenoble in Isère. It was also shot in Charente-Maritime and in Paris.

Release

Anatomy of a Fall had its world premiere at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on 21 May 2023. Le Pacte released it theatrically in France on 23 August 2023. It was also screened at the 27th Lima Film Festival in the Acclaimed section on 13 August 2023. It was also invited at the 28th Busan International Film Festival in 'Icon' section and will be screened in October 2023.

In May 2023, Neon acquired the North American distribution rights. In July 2023, Neon set the film for a limited theatrical release in the United States on 13 October 2023. In September 2023, Lionsgate UK acquired the UK and Ireland distribution rights from Picturehouse Entertainment and set a release date for 10 November 2023.

Reception

Critical response

File:Sandra Hüller, Berlinale 2023.jpg

Sandra Hüller’s performance received critical acclaim.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 98% of 50 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "A smart, solidly crafted procedural that's anchored in family drama, Anatomy of a Fall finds star Sandra Hüller and director/co-writer Justine Triet operating at peak power." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 88 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

AlloCiné, a French cinema site, gave the film an average rating of 4.4/5, based on a survey of 40 French reviews.

Jon Frosch of The Hollywood Reporter wrote; "A director and actress in peak form. Sandra Hüller is brilliant, sensational. An exciting step forward for a filmmaker who seems primed for greater international recognition."

Damon Wise of Deadline Hollywood wrote; "Sandra Hüller shines. A cerebral smash that might finally bring the Best Actress award that its star, Sandra Hüller, was cruelly denied in 2016. Hüller’s screen magnetism cannot be denied."

Peter Debruge of Variety called the film "thought-provoking", "a kind of Gone Girl in reverse", and an "uncommonly mature film through all its layers, seeing rarely expressed truths about 21st-century relationships in its trajectory."

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and wrote; "Sandra Hüller's calm directness as an actor is what gives the film its texture, substance and emotional force."

Box office

The film was released to 379 theaters in France, where it debuted at number two at the box office grossing over $2 million and selling 262,698 tickets, behind Barbie (288,185 tickets), and ahead of Oppenheimer (231,550 tickets). Anatomy of a Fall had the best opening for a Palme d'Or winner since The Class (2008), which sold 358,000 tickets in France during its opening weekend in 2008. In its second weekend, the film remained in second place behind The Equalizer 3 and ahead of Barbie, accumulating 608,913 tickets sold. In its third weekend, the film reached the top spot at the French box office with 191,392 admissions from 738 theaters, accumulating 800,283 tickets sold, and grossing $5,7 million. In its fourth weekend, the film dropped to the fifth spot at the French box office and accumulated 921,308 admissions.

On 23 September 2023, Anatomy of a Fall exceeded 1 million admissions in France one month after its theatrical release, becoming the seventh Palme d'Or winner – and the third French Palme d'Or winner – to cross the 1 million admissions mark in France since 2000.

Accolades

On 13 September 2023, Anatomy of a Fall was one of the five films pre-selected by France's Oscar committee to represent the country in the Best International Feature Film category at the 97th Academy Awards. On 21 September 2023, France chose to submit The Taste of Things instead, which sparked controversy; with French insiders claiming that director Justine Triet was being "punished" for criticizing French President Emmanuel Macron's repression of the pension reform protest movement during her acceptance speech at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.

Award / Film Festival	Date of ceremony	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref.
Cannes Film Festival	27 May 2023	Palme d'Or	Justine Triet	Won
	26 May 2023	Queer Palm		Nominated
		Palm Dog Award	Messi	Won
Sydney Film Festival	18 June 2023	GIO Audience Award for Best International Narrative Feature	Justine Triet	Won
Brussels International Film Festival	5 July 2023	Grand Prix - International Competition		Nominated
		International Competition - Audience Award		Won
Locarno Film Festival	12 August 2023	Piazza Grande - UBS Audience Award		Nominated

External links

• Anatomy of a Fall at IMDb
• Anatomy of a Fall at AlloCiné
• Anatomy of a Fall at Unifrance
• Anatomy of a Fall at Cineuropa
• Anatomy of a Fall at Cannes Film Festival
• Official trailer on YouTube