The director of _Anatomy of a Fall_ Justine Triet wouldn't
admit it in interviews, but from her choice of music it
is clear that Sandra (Sandra Huller) has not killed her
husband Samuel (Samuel Theus). Samuel's theme is the
instrumental version of 50 Cent's assualtive "P.I.M.P" (the
lyrics, said to be misogynistic, I have the good fortune
not to know). Her son Daniel's is an propulsive piece by
Isaac Albeniz, while Sandra's is a sedate prelude by
Chopin. One key early scenes has the partially blind
Daniel banging at the piano, practising the Albeniz,
when Sandra sits down beside him, steers him on to the
Chopin, calms him down. At the turning point of the
trial, the Chopin refrain all but telegraphs Daniels'
key testimony.

Sandra's infectious calmness, her ability to "work
anywhere," also signals the lack of a murdering
personality. But it is what infuriates Samuel, drives
him to a possible suicide, blamed on her. They are both
writers, but Samuel's paralyzing guilt over a family
accident turns him into a failure, a basket case. He moves
them to his Grenoble hometown to fix up a house for
B&B purposes, and fails at that too. Slowly we learn
how the relationship becomes poisoned. Director Triet
makes the best use of the mountainous location, much
like Anne Fointaine does in _White as Snow_. (The
region apparently provides strong incentives for film-
making.) The camera work, shot selection, and editing
are every bit as expertly enacted as the veteran
Fontaine's.)

Sandra Huller is compulsively watchable in dramas and
comedies, yet her appeal is hard to pin down. She does
not go for huge emotions, always seems to be holding back.
Here she has a few heart-rending sobs but quickly pulls
herself together. While she plays a writer in _Anatomy_
and her attempt at explaining herself in her trial for
murder is a paragon of lucidity, her action, facial
ticks, and nervous gestures tend to express more than
words. In Triet's previous film _Sybil_, the most
memorable scene has Huller's passive-agressive movie
director quit the set and jump into the sea. Here,
as lead actress (Triet supposedly cowrote the film for
her), her myriad gestures -- like wiping her nose with
her hands and drying it on her clothes -- tell you so
much about her background. Perhaps it is easier to
compare Huller with male actors, like Chow Yun-Fat
famous for unique gestures he invents for each of his
characters. Huller gives herself a behavioral
make-over every film. In that sense, she is the
anti-Olivia Coleman.

Two indoor locations -- the house and the courtroom
-- dominate the narrative. It is telling the tension
and emotional violence between husband and wife in their
unfinished home is nothing compared with the vicious
slanders, conspiracy theories, and mean-spirited lies
floated by the prosecuting team in the august court-
house. (There is none of the humanizing touch shown
by the judge-advocates in _Saint Omer_.) Watching
_An Anatomy of a Fall_ makes me understand how low-life
lawyers like Sydney Powell, who spreads lies about
"election stealing" and indirectly incites a riot
inside the U.S. Congress -- leading to stiff jail
sentences while she herself gets off with probation
--- can live with themselves. Sending people to
jail with little cause is what prosecutors do.

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