He goes before the court and offers a final statement, admitting that while he couldn't imagine his mother killing his father, he could imagine his father's suicide. Sandra is not convicted, and bonds with Vincent as they share a last meal together as they reflect on the stress of the case.
Anatomy of a Fall ends not with Sandra alongside her son, but with their dog, Snoop. It's a moment that, aside from showcasing the unconditional love of a dog, highlights how alone Sandra still is. Her husband is dead, and while her son may have lied to protect her, there's still a great distance between them.
Sandra is absolved and Anatomy of a Fall ends, and yet the main question still doesn't seem to have a clear answer. Not even actress Sandra Hüller knows for sure, although that wasn't an obstacle for her Oscar-nominated performance.
In the film, Sandra is accused of pushing her husband to his death. The film never overtly tells the audience if she is guilty or not. While one would assume the actor herself would have a firm answer on Sandra's innocence, Huller says she preferred to leave it ambiguous.
But if you were to ask this writer, I'd say it's fairly obvious that Sandra did not murder her husband, and that Daniel – seeing that things were not looking great for his mother – lied in his testimony to help her suicide theory.
Daniel is partially blind, and much of the film is shown from his perspective. Like his learning of the piano, he has had to develop a keen sense of hearing, called into question by his own changing testimony and belief in his mother's innocence.
We don't know, and that's the point. Much like the jury in the courtroom, the audience will never know for sure whether Sandra did or did not kill Samuel. This purposefully ambiguous ending puts viewers in the position of both Daniel and the jury: We have to decide on what we believe.
Winners of the Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay for Anatomy of a Fall, Justine Triet and Arthur Harari have made history in the French film world, rounding of an adventure that began at the Cannes Film Festival last May.
Anatomy of a Fall, Justine Triet's Palme d'Or-winning courtroom drama, is arguably the best film of the year. It definitely has the most fascinating performance. Sandra Hüller plays a successful writer married to an unsuccessful writer. They have a son who lost his vision after an accident (the husband was at fault).
The characters feel human, which is what truly shapes this film. It showcases the range of emotions and relationships we have in our lives, and the ways that love can blind us. “Anatomy of a Fall” is a movie I can see myself watching again and again, just to catch the carefully crafted details I might've missed.
Despite the somewhat familiarity of the story in Anatomy of a Fall, the French movie is not based on a true story. But while the characters are fictional, Triet expressed in a 2023 interview with The Hollywood Reporter that she drew inspiration from true crime stories.
During a crucial scene, Snoop is catatonic, tongue lolling out in distress after being drugged. Contini noticed his tongue looking that way after a vigorous play session with his beloved ball and immediately knew it would be perfect for that scene.
Some scenes in the courtroom are repetitive and drag on for too long. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote. Anatomy of a Fall is an engrossing courtroom drama that packs a miniseries' worth of story in two and a half hours.
With the phone now suitably padded, she pushes Hunter's body off the tower and the message successfully gets through to her father. Her father comes to the tower with the emergency services and Becky is saved. Although we imagine she's probably going to have nightmares for months — and will never actually climb again.
LOS ANGELES -- "Anatomy of a Fall" has won the Oscar for best original screenplay this year and is nominated for four other awards, including best picture, best director and best actress for Sandra Hüller.
Writing out of the festival for IndieWire, critic Ben Croll gave the film an “A-” and wrote that “'Anatomy of a Fall' is never really about the trial, and doesn't only explore the chasm between empiricism and emotion; at its searing best, the film tracks family destruction with cold precision.”
Anatomy of a Fall may feel familiar at first but it immerses audiences in a different kind of legal thriller. Above, Sandra Hüller plays a writer accused of murdering her husband. The Oscars love a courtroom drama, and part of the appeal of a traditional courtroom drama has always been the restoration of order.
The beauty of Anatomy of a Fall is that by the end we, the audience, don't know conclusively whether Sandra (Sandra Hüller – who is nominated for the Best Actress Oscar) killed Samuel (Samuel Theis) or not. Triet wouldn't tell Huller on set whether she thought Sandra was guilty or innocent either.
Are there any recent films of this 2nd type? Otherwise it's just a cinematic genre of the algorithm that periodically churns out products for such audience profile. It's a well-acted but drawn-out drama that failed to keep me interested in what was going on. The criminal elements also felt very out of place.
Why did he give the dog aspirin Anatomy of a Fall?
He recalls that when Samuel overdosed, Snoop also fell sick, possibly due to having eaten Samuel's vomit. He then deliberately feeds Snoop aspirin and finds it has the same effect, which aligns with Sandra's testimony.
What happened to Daniel's eyes in Anatomy of a Fall?
She admits that their relationship showed signs of stress when young son Daniel lost most of his sight in an accident, an accident Samuel blamed on himself and Sandra did not disabuse him of this notion.
Is the boy in Anatomy of a Fall blind in real life?
In real life, the actor who plays Sandra is Germany's Sandra Hüller; the actor who plays Samuel is Frenchman Samuel Theis; and the child actor who plays Daniel is teenager Milo Machado Graner, who is not blind. Snoop, the dog, is played by Messi, who belongs to Hüller offscreen; he is this year's Palm Dog.
How did they make Snoop look sick in Anatomy of a Fall?
For Snoop's most dramatic scene, Messi had to act sick — and a lot of hard work and training went into it. He had to learn how to lay down and let his tongue hang out as if he were ill, which wasn't easy.
