Anatomy of a Fall is a movie that delivers strong story, characters, writing, all the things you would expect from a Palme d'Or winner. However, the true strength lies in the ideas of the movie, and how they are presented. This is a movie about truth, what it is and how it's determined. Author Sandra Voyter is implicated in the falling death of her husband, and she and her blind son Daniel must testify in court. It's not such much a whodunit as it is a court drama. It does keep you constantly guessing as to whether or not she is guilty, but that itself is not important as the exploration of how one can know the truth.
The acting is fantastic. The movie is led by a top-notch performance from Sandra Huller, whose performance is essential to her sense of guilt or lack thereof. The entire success of the movie hinges on this, and she pulls it off exceptionally well. Special mention should go to 15-year old Milo Machado-Graner, who plays Daniel (though he is not actually blind). The rest of the cast is solid as well, particularly Swann Arlaud as Vincent (Sanra's lawyer). One of the strongest elements is its screenplay, which is in both French and English. It must have been very meticulously designed to not allow any unconscious bias or extra hints at what actually happened. The cinematography is strong as well; a certain rawness to it where it very much feels like home video. The movie is, however, probably a little too long.
Spoilers beyond this point - it's not surprising that it ends ambiguously, without clearly stating whether or not she actually did it. It ties back to the whole idea of truth being the most important thing and yet so elusive. But the way the ending is written with Daniel skewing the case to the subjective idea of "his truth" was very well handled. Having a definitive answer would take away from the general idea.
The acting is fantastic. The movie is led by a top-notch performance from Sandra Huller, whose performance is essential to her sense of guilt or lack thereof. The entire success of the movie hinges on this, and she pulls it off exceptionally well. Special mention should go to 15-year old Milo Machado-Graner, who plays Daniel (though he is not actually blind). The rest of the cast is solid as well, particularly Swann Arlaud as Vincent (Sanra's lawyer). One of the strongest elements is its screenplay, which is in both French and English. It must have been very meticulously designed to not allow any unconscious bias or extra hints at what actually happened. The cinematography is strong as well; a certain rawness to it where it very much feels like home video. The movie is, however, probably a little too long.
Spoilers beyond this point - it's not surprising that it ends ambiguously, without clearly stating whether or not she actually did it. It ties back to the whole idea of truth being the most important thing and yet so elusive. But the way the ending is written with Daniel skewing the case to the subjective idea of "his truth" was very well handled. Having a definitive answer would take away from the general idea.