Preface: yapping….

It’s a bit surprising to see Sandra Huller’s Hollywood debut being as underwhelming as her performance in Project Hail Mary, since the role is rather simple, flat, the story didn’t give her role much personality compared to the Ryan Gosling role, which is typical in Hollywood writing, the male character is always more important than the female character. Since writers are probably men, and they can only write about what they know, hence the female characters fall flat, even though it did seem like the writers tried to make an effort to put ladies in important roles, but honestly, it’s not enough. Working in a competitive industry such as filmmaking, being a woman is hard, if we are looking at most countries in the world. Aside from being talked down upon, being questioned about your abilities, when you get a promotion people just assume it’s cuz you slept with someone not cuz you are good at your job, and the constant subtle sexual attention/harassment, the most difficult thing is to get the executives to believe in your screenplay: it’s not niche because it’s written from a woman’s perspective, nothing is niche about being a woman, and nothing is niche about the experience of living and growing as a woman, yet somehow it’s always deemed “esoteric”. This is why we need more women writers, but that’s a topic for another time.  It’s surprising to me that Sandra Huller’s role was flat, because in 2023, which was a prolific year for good movies, including Fingernails, Sing Sing, Zone of Interest, Anatomy of A Fall, Saltburn by Emerald Fennell, Maestro by Brad Cooper, La Chimera, May December, Asteroid City by Wes Anderson, Monster by Kore-Eda etc etc. Sandra Huller was in two of them: Zone of Interest, and Anatomy of a Fall. Both are really heavy movies, yet she showed depth and range as an actress in both of the movies, especially in Anatomy of A Fall, which I watched during the Chicago International Film Festival. When I went in late to see everyone being hyper focused, I could tell it wasn’t an easy movie to sit through. It's long, and slow, and way too serious. Without it being at a film festival, I don’t think I could have finished it at home in one sitting. 

Anatomy of A Fall is a movie directed by Justine Triet, co-written by Justine Triet and Arthur Harari. According to wikipedia, the film premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on 21 May 2023, where it won the Palme d'Or and the Palm Dog Award, and competed for the Queer Palm. It was released theatrically in France by Le Pacte on 23 August 2023, receiving critical acclaim, selling over 1.9 million admissions in France, and winning six awards at the 49th César Awards, including Best Film. The film also received five nominations at the 96th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Triet), Best Actress (Hüller), and won Best Original Screenplay. It has since been cited as among the best films of the 2020s.  The story goes like this: in a secluded mountain house somewhere in countryside France, Sandra Voyter (interestingly, the actress’s name is also Sandra) is forced to cut an interview short due to her husband playing music at a disruptive volume from the attic. Shortly after the interviewer departs, their visually impaired son, Daniel, goes for a walk with his guide dog. Upon their return, Daniel discovers his dad's lifeless body in the snow, having apparently fallen to his death. While Sandra maintains the fall was a tragic accident, her lawyer and friend, Vincent, considers the angle of suicide. As the trial progresses, deeply personal grievances surface. Being visually impaired, the son’s testimony became unreliable. Daniel becomes increasingly confused, could mom have killed dad? Is that possible? Or is it not about what’s possible but what he wants to believe in? He eventually decides to tell the judges that he can see his father committing suicide rather than being murdered. It is unclear through the whole movie whether Sandra is guilty or not, even Sandra Huller didn’t know. 

The way the prosecution rips apart Sandra’s life with his former husband is very much like how women usually get questioned in all areas of their lives. Do you resent him? Are you sure? We don’t believe you, you have to prove it, even when there’s nothing to prove. How do you prove something that you did not do? When a man dies, the suspect naturally falls on the wife. His jealousy over Sandra’s success, Sandra’s sexuality, their complicated marriage all came under scrutiny. Every little detail of her argument with her husband becomes a possibility for her crime: her crime for not being perfect, her crime for holding resentment against her husband, her crime for being more successful, her crime for potentially having an affair. What is a marriage? How should a marriage be? How healthy is a healthy marriage? How bad does it justify a suspect for murder? The courthouse scene is a perfect metaphor for the literal questions women go through in life, being examined, judged, interrogated, assumed malicious. There's a way the Sandra acts that's so carefree and natural. The opening part with Sandra is excellent; the intimacy between her and the interviewer is captured beautifully in the details. It's always a treat to watch French cinema—the composition, camera work, and color palette are so distinct and refreshing. Anatomy of a Fall plays into people’s bias, judgement, and is structured masterfully. While I do not normally enjoy watching movies like this, it had me on the edge of my seat. There's something about how french people move the camera that is so casual, smooth, gentle and easygoing. Recommended to anyone that’s studying filmmaking. ☀️