I fell in love with the court scenes and the performances in ANATOMY OF A FALL, but not much else. Look, this is a very French film. It’s two hours and thirty minutes, has a minimalistic score, is mostly all dialogue, and deals with a mystery that’s less about death and more about how it can destroy a family. If that sounds like your type of movie, you are in for a scorching nightcap. If not, you will likely fall asleep at times and question your life choices to spend this long in a theater with such a depressing topic. As for me, the biggest compliment I can give ANATOMY OF A FALL is that it didn’t feel like a two-and-a-half-hour film. Thanks to about ninety minutes spent in some extremely captivating court sequences, it felt much more crisp.
This is Sandra Hüller’s star-making turn as Sandra. Her conflicted motherly role reminded me of the best Cate Blanchett performance, not by Cate herself. The depth of her grief, possible guilt, responsibility, and so much more was displayed in every scene, especially one vicious sequence that had shades of BEFORE MIDNIGHT’s “I’m not wearing a bra” fight. Also in an eye-opening role is Sandra’s son, Milo Machado Graner. He has the challenge of being the empathy that brings audiences through the story, and he kills it. I expect to see his name a lot in the future with his acting gifts.
ANATOMY OF THE FALL is actually about two things:
- Questioning Death – Is it worse to kill someone or have your words make them want to kill themselves? And what will that do to a child (again, this is a very French film)?
- Facts Make You Believe False Narratives – People jump to conclusions regarding facts serving their narrative (e.g., Donald Trump), but that doesn’t mean it’s true.
ANATOMY OF A FALL is opening in theatres on lucky Friday the 13th of October.
