Anatomy of a Fall - 5 nominations

 

• • Best Motion Picture of the Year

  • Marie-Ange Luciani,
  • David Thion
• 
  • Best Achievement in Directing

  • Justine Triet
• 
  • Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

  • Sandra Hüller
• 
  • Best Original Screenplay

  • Justine Triet,
  • Arthur Harari
• • Best Achievement in Film Editing

  • Laurent Sénéchal

Think about a time when you fought with your partner, your spouse, or really any family member.  Perhaps you were not your best self, perhaps the other person was not his/her/their best self.  And if you were being judged, literally put on trial with just one of those difficult conversations as the representative or your entire relationship, how would you fare in front of a jury of legal experts and judges?

This is the question asked by Anatomy of a Fall, wherein our lead character's husband dies by a fall from a second story window, but it is not clear if he jumped, if he fell, or if he was pushed by his wife. His partially blind son may have overheard something - or maybe he didn't - but this process will lead the son to question whether his mother is a monster, or simply a victim herself. In addition to all of this, the mother, Sandra, must defend herself in a court of law where she speaks French(ish), but under the stress of the trial grows flustered when telling her story - is that stress because she is guilty because she is scared?

Beautifully and masterfully portrayed by Sandra Huller (who is also in The Zone of Interest), we see how that rare performance in an international language film breaks through to the top 5 lead actress performances of the year. The emotion, the subtlety, the fear, the love, the big feelings and the small, and all of this expertly crafted in a screenplay that is unrelenting in its pursuit of truth.