ANATOMY OF A FALL

Unquestionably this film deserves its Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. 

It's not so much that the story told is especially clever; in essence it's fairly simple and can be summarised quite easily - a woman is put on trial for the murder of her husband, and (spoiler alert) is cleared.  We the audience are left unclear whether she is in fact guilty, or whether the death (from a fall) might be an accident or even suicide.

The merit of the screenplay (by Arthur Harari and the film's director Justine Triet) lies more in the ways it draws us into the relationship between successful novelist Sandra (played superbly by Sandra Hüller) and her frustrated husband Samuel, and how it manages to maintain ambiguity without annoying us. 

The flashback scene where eventually we get to see the tensions between Sandra and Samuel exploding to the surface is one of the most riveting I can remember.  The dialogue as each of them tries to seize the moral high ground in their relationship is extraordinarily good.   

I am endlessly fascinated by the workings of the French legal system (one of the reasons I love the TV series 'Spiral') so I was in seventh heaven here in the trial scenes, which feature some superb cut-and-thrust dialogue between prosecution and defence, as they and we try to get to the truth. 

I also enjoyed the way the son Daniel gradually becomes a very important character who ultimately decides his mother's fate in a way I found totally satisfying.

Also a shout-out to their dog Snoop, played very impressively by Messi.

But ultimately this film is a triumph for Hüller and Triet. 

RATING: ✓✓✓ Cancel All Arrangements