#TIFF23 Review: Anatomy of a Fall (Special Presentations)

By John Corrado

★★★½ (out of 4)

The 2023 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 7th to 17th, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here.

Did the husband fall, or was he pushed? That’s the question at the centre of Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall, an absorbing courtroom drama from French director Justine Triet, that litigates the tragic case of a man (Samuel Theis) who falls to his death, and the widow (Sandra Hüller) who becomes a suspect.

Sandra Voyter (Hüller) is a German writer, who has moved to the French Alps with her husband Samuel (Theis). When Samuel falls out the window of their chalet and is found dead in the snow below, coroners question if another party was involved. Sandra is indicted and put on trial, with her old lawyer friend Vincent (Swann Arlaud) stepping in to represent her. The case is complicated by the fact that the only witness is the couple’s visually impaired son Daniel (Milo Machado-Graner), who takes his dog for a walk and comes back to find his father on the ground.

Investigators question if the windowsill was too high for him to fall, or if he possibly jumped, even examining blood splatters on the shed below the window to determine if he struck his head on the way down. Like the instrumental version of 50 Cent’s “P.I.M.P.” that plays on a loop over the opening scenes, becoming a point of contention between husband and wife, Anatomy of a Fall has an almost methodical rhythm to it. After the initial setup, much of Triet’s film unfolds in the courtroom, as Samuel’s death is explored from all possible angles, including re-litigating every fight the couple had.

The intelligent, almost literary screenplay, which was co-written by Triet and Arthur Harari, keeps reexamining possible motives as more details are revealed, and we start to get a better sense of the inherent tensions between husband and wife. Hüller carries the film with a powerhouse performance, holding us in her character’s grip until the final moments, as we constantly question her motives and guilt. Machado-Graner also compels with his impressive, emotionally complex turn as the young son who is expected to testify, working mainly from his auditory memory of events.

Per its title (perhaps a play on the 1959 courtroom drama Anatomy of a Murder), Anatomy of a Fall lives up to its promise as a meticulous legal drama that gets at deeper questions about innocence and truth. It’s an engrossing courtroom drama that is both brilliantly acted and structured to remain fully engaging across an admittedly dense 151 minutes, with Triet offering strong directorial touches that make her Palme win both deserving and unsurprising.