The Palme d’Or shines in the cinema: this week “Anatomy of a Fall” arrived in our cinemas, the film that won the most prestigious award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
It was directed by Justine Triet, a French writer who had shown a fine hand with “La bataille de Solférino” in 2013 before losing her way a bit with “All Victoria’s Men” in 2016 and “Sibyl” in 2019.
With this new film, the director returns to top performance and begins with a subject that is already very interesting in itself: the main role is played by Sandra, a German writer who lives in a mountain hut and plays in a remote area of the French Alps with her husband Samuel and their eleven-year-old son Daniel. One day Samuel is found dead, buried in the snow in front of his house. Investigators suspect it may not be a suicide, decide to investigate, and ultimately file charges against the man’s wife. When the woman is questioned about her relationship with her husband during the trial, the picture that emerges is of a difficult and tormented relationship: Sandra shows a sometimes disturbed personality and her son, who is forced to help, experiences a deep inner conflict.
“Anatomy of a Fall” begins with a burst of rare power and ends with a series of photos that accompany the opening credits. “Anatomy of a Fall” is a film that moves at a very high pace and maintains a constant tension from start to finish despite its length (approximately 150 minutes). Although it is not a particularly original product in its development, it is still a valid and concise feature film, especially thanks to a series of dialogues of great depth.
Fact and fiction
It is no coincidence that in this film, which focuses heavily on the relationship between reality and fiction, both spouses are writers, victims of a trauma that has made them increasingly distant and that will come to light several times during the trial: a few Im In the first year, their son Daniel suffered an accident that left him unable to see and led the couple into a crisis that lasted for a long period of time. Although some steps in the process may seem rather conventional, the staging is always remarkable and there is no shortage of goosebump-inducing sequences: among them is a very powerful flashback that extends beyond the first half of the film, in which we discover the man’s face and witness a heated argument between them, which they overhear via a recording in the courtroom. Ricco of ideas for thought and twists, “Anatomy of a Fall” is further enhanced by the extraordinary performance of Sandra Hülser: the German actress already had her talent proven in the past (think “Requiem” or “Meet Toni Erdmann”). but here he outdoes himself by delivering the most convincing interpretation of his entire career. His performance is by far one of the most intense of the entire film season.
Small
News of the week also includes Julie Lerat-Gersant’s behind-the-camera debut titled “Petites.” The story centers on Camille, a sixteen-year-old who one day finds out that she is pregnant. The girl is separated from her mother, a loving but toxic woman, and sent to a reception center by the juvenile judge. There are other young pregnant women like her here and meeting these people will disrupt the future mother’s life even more. It is a film about the sense of responsibility and how life can shatter all our certainties from one day to the next: “Petites” effectively speaks about topics that are not easy, and the debut director’s style is fresh and precise in her artistic choices. The rhythm works in alternating phases and not all the characters are written with the right care, but it is a work that is believable. Throughout its duration you can feel how warm the film is and was made under the star of narrative sincerity.
