'Anatomy of a Fall' inspires curiosity rather than love
NEON
“Lies take the elevator, and truth takes the stairs.” This is a great line from the solid Paramount+ documentary about Milli Vanilli, and if that name makes you laugh then you’re part of the problem. Also a problem: Does “Anatomy of a Fall,” which also attempts to sort out fact from fiction and otherwise has absolutely nothing to do with Milli Vanilli, have a line as economically probing?
It’s fittingly debatable, just like the multi-Oscar-nominated French film about successful novelist Sandra Voyter (Best Actress-nominated Sandra Huller of “The Zone of Interest”) standing trial for the murder of her husband Samuel Maleski (Samuel Theis), whose death has only the couple’s 11-year-old, vision-impaired son Daniel (Milo Machado Graner) as the most minor of witnesses. Did Sandra push Samuel out the window of their attic, the finale of a marriage that had been struggling for many years and even more reasons? Did he fall? Did he jump?
No matter what happened, some of his last few minutes were undeniably used blasting an instrumental, steel-drum version of 50 Cent’s “P.I.M.P.,” which is a detail that really just can’t be overlooked. Likewise that Daniel’s dog(g) is named Snoop, further reinforcing a cheeky, rap-based sense of humor in this otherwise remote and rather unhappy household in the French mountains.
Beyond what caused Samuel to plummet to the ground is the question of if “Anatomy of a Fall” unearths anything explosive about its central relationship’s demise. (Sigh, even the double meaning of the title isn’t really that clever.) Is this a great movie about the countless unknown factors that can turn romantic warmth into frost? Or just a good “Law and Order” episode where no one is really sure what happened and yet the trial plows forward anyway, with everyone spouting theories and calling them explanations? I’d say the latter, with Oscar-nominated director/co-writer Justine Triet effectively highlighting how much only Sandra can know for sure while seeming to inspire more thought about the court proceeding than the relationship. Is it fair to consider the author’s work and wonder if life is imitating art? Can we feel sorry for her while also being unsettled by the way new information keeps coming to light? Do her considerations for her son make her more credible, or is this just one more possible point of manipulation? The ambiguities about what happens behind closed doors between two people are self-evident but presented as eye-popping, no matter how muted the presentation.
Anyway, while you can have a nice post-viewing dialogue about this family drama/courtroom thriller, the quality of an ensuing discussion doesn’t mean that a movie is great. “Anatomy of a Fall” holds you, but it would be overstatement to suggest that it doesn’t let go. Or that it lands with stunning impact rather than a soft landing about how often or how easily love and justice slip out of reach.
B
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