All posts tagged: enrapturing

‘Anatomy of a Fall’ review: An enrapturing courtroom drama about little details

‘Anatomy of a Fall’ review: An enrapturing courtroom drama about little details

Justine Triet’s thoroughly engaging Anatomy of a Fall examines the way information reveals character, and vice versa, during an unfolding murder trial. Sandra, a German novelist played  by Sandra Hüller, is accused of killing her husband, Samuel (Samuel Theis), at their isolated French cabin. A year later in the courtroom, their relationship is placed under a microscope, carefully scrutinized and picked apart for all the world to see. This includes their blind adolescent son, Daniel (Milo Machado Graner), the only witness to his father’s death; Daniel also found Samuel’s body after he seemingly fell from a high window, leaving odd blood-spatter patterns nearby and dying on impact. However, before any of the plot unfolds, Triet and co-writer Arthur Harari lure us in with mementos and pieces of music, including perhaps the most amusing and absurd use of a 50 Cent song in recent memory; an instrumental cover of his upbeat, energetic 2003 single “P.I.M.P” is an important plot point! Alongside the courtroom dialogue, these details play an equally vital part in unearthing the characters’ identities, …