Anatomia de Uma Queda

Mais um excelente desempenho de Sandra Hüller, com a qual dois filmes se encontraram na secção de competição em Cannes este ano (o outro é The Zone of Interest). Apesar de ser a personagem principal, todo o tempo não sabemos se é culpada ou inocente. A sua expressão e interpretação são geralmente frias, sentimos nela a assassina, mas ela interpreta a sua inocência de forma bastante natural. A sua escolha já foi um grande passo. De resto, um filme com muitos diálogos, de longa duração, que também inclui um processo judicial com uma interessante investigação processual de um acontecimento trágico. Bem dirigido, com ambiguidade na difícil busca da verdade. [Cannes FF] (27/05/2023)

I was quite curious about Anatomy of a Fall due to the positive reviews and its success at all kinds of festivals, and after watching it I can agree that it is definitely a noteworthy film. It skillfully mixes relationship and courtroom drama and thanks to the suspenseful story, in which the pieces of the puzzle are gradually and efficiently put together, it manages to keep the viewer extremely interested for almost the entire duration. Anatomy of a Fall is first and foremost an acting tour-de-force by Sandra Hüller, whose character is incredibly plastic, you don’t really doesn't know which "judgement" (guilty or innocent) to lean towards for most of the time. Among the other performances, the young Daniel and the slick Antoine Reinartz also deserve praise. I would criticise the film for its somewhat tedious conclusion and also the form of the decisive testimony in the case – I guess I was expecting "something more". But if you look at it from a certain point of view, the film can seem ambiguous and open at the end, which can certainly be assessed positively. Either way, Anatomy of a Fall is definitely worth a watch. P. S. (Spoiler alert!) Poor dog! (22/01/2024)

Flawless, pure dramatic form with the magnetic Sandra Hüller and a fantastic child actor. The film’s strength flows from the way it takes the central detective mystery from the field of a procedural crime movies to that of a character study with the child protagonist at the center. The post-Cannes hype was enormous, though I had mild reservations about Anatomy of a Fall due to the fact that it is in some respects too cold and professorial. (06/07/2023)

God, I am so pissed!! The worst cinema experience of this year. I accidentally stepped in shit when I preferred this to DiCaprio, as I love courtroom movies (what could possibly go wrong?), but to get my Anatomy and Dissection without anesthetics! I really didn't expect it. Anatomy of a Fall is one of those movies that when it ends, half the theater screams with joy FINALLY!!! and goes to buy champagne and get really drunk that this shit is finally over, because I couldn’t believe it anymore! (I thought it was funny to look around the hall half way through the film and realise that half the people were actually asleep). It terms of craftsmanship, it's a cheap film that looks like it was made by a law student (terrible cinematography, ugly visuals, no film look), it has a crazy 150 miinute running time with a painfully slow pace (I've really never seen a worse courtroom film in my life). Moreover, the whole film evoked for me the Michael Peterson case (The Staircase), but that was a level above in every way. The execution for me is almost repulsive and the trial is absolutely bland (the best performance here is by a dog!), and the biggest kick in the balls comes at the very end where you get no explanation. A murder mystery without revelation, that's what I call a bold move, which makes me wonder for what purpose such a film was made in the first place? I want to turn back time, I want to turn back money, I want to turn back the mood. I'm going to go and watch the French film Guilty immediately to fix my mood (which coincidentally has an identical 85%, but the qualities are completely different). This really sounds like a bad April Fool's joke. I was going crazy with boredom in the cinema like I haven't in a long time. For my part, this is the prototypical boring arthouse drama that I heartily hate. Had I played the movie at home, I would have thrown the TV out the window in a huff! Terrible. 2/10. (23/10/2023)

Justine Triet delivers a superbly written and filmed study of family ties at a moment of the greatest test of trust, but to be honest, it passed me by in a big way. This long, largely procedural drama is unfortunately as cold as the snout of the dog starring in it, and consequently as cold as the mountain setting in which it takes place. It was a creative choice, of course, but all those pivotal dramatic moments that I had to wait a long time for didn't work and didn't interest me at all. Though I somewhat enjoyed the ambiguity of some of the messages, I am still far from enthusiastic as a viewer. [KVIFF 2023] (26/07/2023)