Anatomy of a Fall

 

The opening of Bradley Cooper's film, Maestro, is a title card with a quote from Leonard Bernstein:  

“A work of art does not answer questions, it provokes them; and its essential meaning is in the tension between the contradictory answers.”

Justin Triet, the director, and Sandra Hüller, the star of Anatomy of a Fall, likely each have Bernstein's quote prominently tattooed on their wrists (thanks to the French Alps setting, Hüller's tattoo is conveniently covered by a sweater for most of the film).  On its surface, Anatomy of a Fall is about a woman accused of her husband's death, which unfolds along the standard formula of an opening scene that establishes possible motive, the death, the investigation, and the trial.  The trial scenes alone are worth the price of admission, since it is fascinating to see another country's legal process depicted.  Yet what makes this film truly stand out, and why it meets Bernstein's definition of a 'work of art', are the questions that Triet provokes, and the implications that arise from the possible answers.  Hüller plays a woman who certainly could have killed her husband, and based on the evidence, most likely did kill her husband, but the genius of her performance is that knowing whether she killed her husband is irrelevant.  Somehow, by the time the jury reaches its verdict, we are more concerned with finding out what happens next, that discovering the truth isn't even on the table.  Hüller's performance exemplifies the dilemma that we all encounter, wherein it is impossible for us, with full confidence, to know the contents of someone else's heart.  Is the accused woman suffering a breakdown because her guilty conscience is catching up with her?  Or, is she afraid of leaving her deaf son behind if she is sentenced for a crime that she didn't commit?  Or, is she mortified by the thought of returning home to a son who suspects her of his father's murder?  All of these questions are simmering below the surface, without a single one being asked out loud.  For some reason, in my mind I keep comparing this film to The Fugitive, which didn't allow the audience to ask the same questions as Anatomy of a Fall, but definitely let its character be smart enough to ask some similar questions.  Most obvious was Tommy Lee Jones' line when Harrison Ford claimed that he didn't kill his wife, to which Jones replied, "I don't care".  I wonder if Triet and Hüller sat down together one day (perhaps they were sitting next to each other at the tattoo parlor), and decided to make a film from the perspective of the one-armed man.