THE TRUTH HURTS (ANATOMY OF A FALL)
Just when you thought the courtroom drama could not be reinvented, along comes Justine Triet.
The French filmmaker's Palme d'Or winning movie doesn't slavishly follow the conventions of a well worn genre.
Instead it takes its formula and really shakes things up.
At the heart of her film is a classy drama about whether Sandra Huller's novelist Sandra Voyer's husband accidentally fell to his death from an attic window from their Grenoble chalet or was pushed by her.
The film begins with Sandra giving an interview in the lodge to a student which becomes quite flirtatious.
This is the first telling sign that all is not well in Sandra's home.
The next comes the interview has to be cut short when her husband, Samuel Theis' Samuel Maleski starts to blare Carribbean steel band music offscreen.
We then see the couple's visually impaired 11 year old son, Milo Machado-Graner's Daniel take his guide dog Snoop on a walk though the snow covered forest.
The boy returns to a scene of absolute chaos.
Samuel is lying on his back, blood gushing from his head after an apparent fall.
Not long after his death competing narratives start to emerge.
Sandra insists he was killed as a result of an accident.
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Police and prosecutors suspect she was responsible.
Her defence lawyer, an old friend Swann Arlaud's Vincent Renzi thinks it may have been suicide.
Like all great courtroom dramas, Sandra and Vincent have to vigorously defend her name while uncomfortable truths about the marriage to Samuel come to light.
Disturbing evidence is presented by Antoine Reinartz's prosecutor that suggests the marriage was far from rosy.
Daniel tries to make sense of it all in only the best way a pre-teenage boy can.
But he also plays a potentially pivotal role, possessing key evidence that the prosecutors jump all over.
This is all pretty standard stuff for a courtroom drama you may think.
But Triet, her co-writer Arthur Harari, her cinematographer Simon Beaufils and film editor Laurent Senechal breathe new life into the genre with dazzling, inventive camera movements, smart editing and expert visual storytelling.
Narratively, 'Anatomy of A Fall' lets the story gradually reveal itself like the peeling of an onion, with layer upon layer building up an uncertain picture of the accused.
What begins as a family drama turns into a tense whodunnit and an equally nerve shredding courtroom drama.
Every nook and cranny of the marriage is explored.
But equally, every nook and cranny of the chalet and the courtroom is explored, with Beaufils' digital cameras occasionally giving the audience a bird's eye view of the trial from the ceiling and the trenches of the courtroom floor.
Every shot is expertly thought through and stunningly choreographed.
Close-ups, long shots, angled shots are all deployed at the right moments.
In one mesmerising sequence while Daniel gives evidence, the lawyers' verbal tennis match unfurling around him offscreen is captured by dizzying camera movements that go back and forth but never show their faces.
Triet and Beaufils also stunningly capture the beauty of the Alpine countryside but are not above showing how the pure white snow is corrupted by the messy, bloody death of Samuel.
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Flashbacks bring to life audio in the courtroom, shedding awkward light on a complex marriage.
The upbeat sounds of the Carribbean steel band music become haunting and sinister as they are replayed in the courtroom.
But the film also thrives on the back of Huller's assured Best Actress Oscar nominated performance.
Faced with a complex character, Huller revels in her flaws and contradictions while injecting moments of compassion, warmth and real fear.
She never strikes a false beat and it is easy to understand why the Academy shortlisted her for a performance of such range.
Machado-Graner delivers a performance beyond his years as a confused visually impaired kid caught up in events that even adults would struggle to fully comprehend.
Arlaud is terrific as Sandra's loyal friend and lawyer.
Reinartz is wonderfully fierce as a terrier like prosecutor who aggressively hunts Sandra down in the courtroom.
Theis is effective too in the flashback moments of Triet's film, bringing to life the uncomfortable truths that come to light about the marriage.
Jehnny Beth also deserves a mention as Marge, the court employee tasked with monitoring the interactions between Daniel and Sandra during the trial to ensure no attempt is made to manipulate the boy.
A lot has also been made of Messi, the canine performer who plays Snoop and understandably so.
Messi goes above and beyond what we normally expect of dogs onscreen.
Triet may have discovered the Daniel Day Lewis of dogs.
Seriously, he's that good.
In an exceptional year for cinema, 'Anatomy of A Fall' deserves all the plaudits it's getting.
It's a taut, absorbing, inventive drama about the games people play in their marriages and in the courtroom.
It is superbly acted and wonderfully directed.
Will it win a statuette on Oscar night?
Hopefully so but who cares?
The film marks Triet out as a major force in French and European cinema.
Regardless of what happens on Oscars night, I just cannot wait to see what she does next.
Please, though, let's not have an anaemic Hollywood remake.
('Anatomy of A Fall' was released in UK and Irish cinemas on November 10, 2023)
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