Summary
- Anatomy of a Fall is a harrowing courtroom drama that challenges moral values and blurs the line between fact and speculation.
- Sandra is indicted based on evidence suggesting her husband’s death occurred under suspicious circumstances, including a violent fight and discrepancies in the scene reenactment.
- The film places emphasis on Daniel’s judgment, as his conclusion about his father’s death is ultimately what matters most to Sandra and the viewer.
Anatomy of a Fall is one of 2023’s best movies, a harrowing courtroom drama that secured a spot in cinema history by winning the prestigious Palme d’Or at the 76th annual Cannes Film Festival. In the film, the lives of Sandra, a successful writer, and Daniel, her visually impaired son, turn upside down when Sandra’s husband Daniel dies under suspicious circumstances. As a trial ensues to conclude whether Samuel’s death was an accident, a suicide, or a homicide, the relationship between mother and son is put at stake.
Without ever leaning on easy answers, Anatomy of a Fall invites the audience to take their sides in a trial that challenges traditional moral values and crosses the boundaries between facts and speculation. Sandra Hüller delivers her most emotionally charged performance yet, embracing the ambiguity of her character with precision. In the end, there are more questions than answers to dissect, leaving plenty of room for interpretations.
Why Was Sandra Indicted in Anatomy of a Fall?
The catalyst for Anatomy of a Fall‘s biggest conflict wasn’t the death of Samuel, but rather the pieces of evidence that suggested it occurred under suspicious circumstances. Although the cause of death was inconclusive, there was no proof or indication that Sandra could’ve been behind her husband’s fall, but the discovery of a compromising recording on a USB key belonging to Samuel revealed the couple had a violent fight just one day before his death.
Other two elements were crucial to Sandra’s indictment: firstly, the blood spatter analysis of the scene found evidence that contradicted the theory of an accidental fall, indicating the possibility of the victim receiving a blunt force blow in the head. Secondly, the reenactment of the death suggested several discrepancies, likely intensified by Daniel’s confusion about where exactly he was when he heard his parents talking to each other.
Daniel’s Experiment With His Dog, Explained
Anatomy of a Fall‘s biggest plot twist takes place in the film’s final 30 minutes, in which the focus shifts from Sandra to Daniel as he prepares to testify one more time. Over the weekend, the boy asks his guardian to ensure Sandra leaves the house and secretly puts aspirin in his dog’s food. The experiment nearly kills Snoop, the dog, but Daniel and Marge succeed in making the animal vomit in time. Daniel’s motivations behind the experiment are just as complex as the trial his mother is facing, but enable key information to come to life.
The reason why Daniel decided to give his dog aspirin is linked to Sandra’s claims that Samuel previously attempted suicide six months before his death. She claimed that a few weeks after Samuel quit his medication, she found him passed out in his room and vomit on the floor, which contained aspirin. Daniel could never have suspected the incident before, but with hindsight from his mother’s testimony, he remembered that around that time he found Snoop clearly sick and smelling like vomit.
Suspecting his dog might have eaten his dad’s vomit and that was what made him sick, Daniel decided to give Snoop aspirin and evaluate the dog’s reaction. Things unfold just as Daniel suspected, indicating that his mother was likely telling the truth.
How Did Sandra’s Husband Die?
Although Anatomy of a Fall ends with Sandra being acquitted of the charges against her, the film’s biggest mystery is ultimately left unresolved, for director Justine Triet decides not to show the circumstances of Samuel’s death. Just like the jury in the courtroom, viewers get to know everything that happened prior to and after Samuel’s death, but never the fall itself. While Daniel claims he simply couldn’t picture his mother bringing herself to murder his father while his father taking his own life was something that made sense in his head, the movie makes it clear that there’s enough evidence to sustain both theories.
The prosecutor pointed at several indications that Sandra was guilty; she not only lied about her arm injury, but also omitted Samuel and her had a fight the day before his death. The recording found in Samuel’s USB key indicates a violent version of Sandra and an abusive relationship different from what her public image displays. The blood spatter analysis is inconclusive but suggests Samuel was hit by a blunt object. The prosecutor makes sure to point out passages from Sandra’s books detailing a wife’s fantasies of murdering her husband. And of course, his death occurred while the only witness, Daniel, was absent.
On the other hand, Samuel’s fragile mental state is evident in the recording he made of their fight, and Sandra’s claims that he inflicted injuries on himself during tantrums back up her case. His previous suicide attempt was initially merely speculation, but Daniel coming forward with his own memories of the incident gives substance to this theory. Finally, Daniel’s reminiscences about Samuel’s words about death six months earlier made the boy realize his father was in great pain, despite his choice of suffering in silence.
Why Daniel’s Judgment Is the Only Thing That Matters in Anatomy of a Fall
What makes Anatomy of a Fall so different from other great courtroom dramas is how despite spending the majority of its runtime on the trial, it’s the family drama that prevails. The audience watches a 152-minute movie, yet the only thing that matters is Daniel’s conclusion. Regardless of the key role he plays in the final verdict, the only judgment and decisions that matter most to Sandra, and consequently, the viewer, are those of the son.
While the movie never shows the actual circumstances of Samuel’s death, Triet makes sure to display the possibilities being played out in his head during the trial. What might seem like a narrative choice to illustrate what’s being said on trial foreshadows the pivotal moment in which Daniel claims that the only scene that makes sense in his head is that of his father’s suicide. While the characters spend the majority of Anatomy of a Fall trying to figure out what happened, constantly getting into a dead-end alley, Daniel is the only one focusing on “why” it happened.
