Sandra Hüller in the film “Anatomy of a Fall”.
(Neon)
The top winners of the Cannes Film Festival have generated more traction at the Oscars in recent years, as evidenced by last year's “Triangle of Sadness” and 2019's big winner, “Parasite.” (Before those two, we would have to go back to “The Tree of Life” and “Amour”). But even after Justine Triet's harrowingly acted and grippingly fragmented courtroom thriller took the Palme d'Or last May, few observers (except perhaps the film's astute American distributor, Neon) probably expected it to become a full-fledged artistic giant. Hell, France didn't even submit “Anatomy of a Fall” for best international film, a decision that increasingly looks like the biggest unforced error in recent awards season memory, especially since the official French submission, the roundly admired “ The Taste of Things” ultimately failed to garner a single nomination.
Meanwhile, “Anatomy of a Fall” scored five points, including cinematography, original screenplay and film editing. Triet earned a nomination from the famed branch of internationally-minded directors, which certainly complicates the easy accusations of sexism that some hardcore “Barbie” fans have leveled at the academy in response to Gerwig's perceived snub. Most exciting of all, the typically Amerocentric branch of actors nominated Sandra Hüller for lead actress (who probably also got some supporting actress votes for her work in “The Hot Spot”).
Hüller gives a fiercely intelligent and emotionally mercurial performance here as another Sandra, a novelist on trial for the murder of her husband and, as it turns out, also for the more banal crime of refusing to play the supportive and self-sacrificing wife. “Anatomy” has been cleverly billed as a did-it-or-didn't-it crime novel, but that's not the only mystery that leaves you pondering. What is captivating about the fictional Sandra, and this wonderfully slippery thriller as a whole, is how adamantly they refuse to be pinned down.
