By: Rohan Murti
In a collection of essays published in 1981 called “Danse Macabre”, Stephen King lays out his conception of horror as a genre. Of the three elements that he says define the genre – terror, horror, and disgust – he calls terror the worthiest tool for a writer. As he further lays out his “Psychology of Terror,” King argues that the best way to evoke terror is to never reveal its source. He claims that doing so leaves things up to the imagination, making the viewer/reader feel more “terrified.” Justine Triet’s fourth outing, “Anatomy of A Fall,” is by no measure a “horror film.” However, in the several hours of contemplation that follow its viewing, it is the viewer’s imagination – by this terror being “causeless,” as King put it – haunting them that makes the film worthy of all the acclaim coming its way. I haven’t been too fond of the word “whodunit,” probably because I find the term very limiting in its scope. However, I believe that TIME’s one-line review of the film – “A whodunit where marriage is the prime suspect.” – captures its very essence.
Anatomy of A Fall captures the most pivotal moments in the lives of a writer-couple, portrayed by Sandra Hüller and Samuel Theis. Upon returning home one day, Daniel (played by Milo Machado Graner), their son, learns of his father’s untimely death. Based on what he sees has happened, the boy (and the viewer) realises that the man has died following a chute (fall) from the second floor of their chalet. The remainder of the film captures how Sandra (Sandra Hüller) and her lawyer-friend Vincent (Swann Arlaud) fight a legal battle to prove her innocence in court since the authorities suspect her of murdering her husband (Samuel Theis).
Is that all there is to the cold, dark world atop the French Alps that Triet’s film inhabits? Certainly not. This world is defined by the deconstruction that it is capturing – the chute (fall) as Triet calls it. It’s a world where the principle of causality is distorted, if not suspended altogether. The viewer never sees what follows a crucial series of incidents leading up to “the fall,” and is hardly aware of why events unfold the way do in the film. Triet’s is a world where Effect often precedes; and even supersedes Cause. The director of La Bataille de Solferino (2013) and Victoria (2016), however, makes this unconventional form of storytelling consumable, even enjoyable.
The film does not for an instant overlook the striking cultural differences between the Franco-German author-couple in question. It highlights them primarily through their linguistic preferences, also capturing the effect that this has on their young son. Triet punctuates her œuvre with frequent outbursts of an arresting combination of piano notes which, although predictable, is premonitory and at least for me, a major part of any recollection of the film.
Anatomy of a Fall’s accolades – two awards at the Golden Globes, seven BAFTA nominations, and five Oscar nominations – only highlight the shift that it has caused in the narration of “whodunits” [sigh] in cinema. Justine Triet’s achievement lies in diluting the value of the Cause in a film that, on the face of it, is aimed at finding one. Triet’s genius lies in doing that while narrating one of the most captivating stories ever portrayed in French cinema.