Between Messi charming his way through the Nominees Luncheon and last Sunday's BAFTA victory in Best Original Screenplay, Anatomy of a Fall is entering the Oscar voting period with an upswing of exposure and widespread love. Justine Triet's Palme d'Or champion has proven a beguiling mystery, sustained by a performance that leaves the viewer drowning in ambiguity. According to Sandra Hüller, she was directed to play a writer accused of murdering her husband as if she were innocent, but the film never discloses whether Sandra did it or not.
Indeed, when perusing reviews, online reactions, or just conversations between cinephiles, nobody seems to agree. Some find it evident that she's guilty, while others believe there's no way her husband's death was murder…
In some fundamental ways, the truth is beside the point. Anatomy of a Fall isn't a mystery asking its audience whodunnit. Instead, it explores the creation of truth itself, using the devices of literary autofiction and a court of law as tools for dissection. It's also an exploration of marriage, written by a couple of artists whose potential similarities with the husband and wife characters are a delicious perversity. So, to ask if she did it can be seen as a misreading of the film. It certainly should not be seen as a serious act of engagement with its tricky questions. Better to ask what drives someone to decide if something is true or not.
How much of it is deduction from fact, and how much is faith? Can a lie be true? Can truth be nothing but a construction of lies one tells oneself throughout our shared existences? How do societal views on gender play into this?
Then again, having fun with cinema, being silly, and ignoring its deeper intellectual conceits is perfectly fine. Anatomy of a Fall isn't a humorless exercise, and at times, it seems to push the audience to rejoice in the judicial absurdity rather than investigate what lies beneath. Let's take that lead and ponder the question that titles this post. I'll even share my snarky take: she did it, and it was justifiable homicide. Imagine living with someone who recorded you all the time, possibly started arguments to get material and, worst of all, kept playing "P.I.M.P. (Instrumental)" at all hours of the day, volume turned up to eleven. I would have done it, too! To quote six merry murderesses of the Cook County Jail "it was a murder, but not a crime."
But what do you think, dear reader? Here are some polls:
If you answered NO, then how did he die? Here are some options.
One last question. If you could guarantee ONE win for Anatomy of the Fall at the Oscars, what prize would it be?