---
title: "Anatomy of a Fall"
year: 2023
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/anatomy-of-a-fall"
fi1m_id: "anatomy-of-a-fall"
imdb_id: "tt17009710"
tmdb_id: 915935
wikidata_id: "Q117037697"
fi1m_score: 86
critics_score: 87
critics_reviews: 14
published: "2026-09-10"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:37:48.971279+00:00"
region: "AE"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Anatomy of a Fall (2023)

Directed by Justine Triet · 2h 31m · Thriller, Mystery, Crime

## Identity

Anatomy of a Fall

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/anatomy-of-a-fall
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** anatomy-of-a-fall
- **IMDb ID:** tt17009710
- **TMDB ID:** 915935
- **Wikidata ID:** Q117037697
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17009710/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/915935, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q117037697

**Fi1m score: 86** · Critics 87 from 14 reviews

*In a sentence:* Two and a half hours of a French court deciding whether a woman is guilty or merely unlikeable

> Justine Triet’s courtroom drama refuses to say whether Sandra Hüller’s novelist pushed her husband, and is the better for it. Hüller is remarkable, the script is exact, and the 151 minutes could lose ten without anyone noticing.

## Synopsis

Sandra Voyter (Sandra Hüller), a German novelist, lives in a chalet in the French Alps with her husband Samuel Maleski (Samuel Theis) and their son Daniel (Milo Machado-Graner), who is visually impaired. A student (Camille Rutherford) arrives to interview Sandra about her work; music from the attic, where Samuel is working, drowns the conversation and the interview is abandoned. The fall of the title could be an accident, a suicide or a push. Sandra is charged, and an old friend, the lawyer Vincent Renzi (Swann Arlaud), defends her at a trial in which the prosecution (Antoine Reinartz) has only the marriage to examine.

## Review

Justine Triet’s film opens with an interview that cannot happen. Sandra Voyter (Sandra Hüller), a novelist, is talking to a student (Camille Rutherford) in the kitchen of her chalet when her husband, Samuel Maleski (Samuel Theis), upstairs, puts on a steel-band cover of 50 Cent’s *P.I.M.P.* at a volume that ends the conversation. The title tells you there is a fall. The film never shows it, and the rest of its 151 minutes is a trial in which Sandra must account for what she did or did not do that afternoon. That is the first thing to know about it.

Triet and Arthur Harari’s script understands that once the physical evidence runs out, and here it runs out early, a trial becomes an argument about what sort of person the accused is. So the court hears about the marriage: who worked and who did not, whose career was going well, whose book borrowed from whose life. The prosecutor, played by Antoine Reinartz as a man who enjoys his job a little too visibly, reads passages from Sandra’s novels aloud as if they were confessions. Her lawyer, Vincent Renzi (Swann Arlaud), an old friend who may once have been more, tells her early on that the truth is not the point; being believed is.

Hüller is remarkable, and the way she is remarkable is hard to describe because she does so little. Sandra is German, living in France, and she speaks English at home because it is the language neither she nor her husband grew up in. In court she is made to speak French, imperfectly, and the film lets us hear how each hesitation counts against her. Hüller gives her a face that does not perform grief or innocence for anyone’s benefit, and the court keeps trying to read it. We could not read it either.

Simon Beaufils shoots the chalet in flat winter light, pale pine and snow glare through the windows, so the house looks unfinished, which it is. Emmanuelle Duplay’s production design gives it exposed insulation and half-built rooms, a renovation Samuel Maleski was doing himself. In the courtroom Beaufils keeps drifting off whoever is speaking to whoever is listening, so testimony becomes something we watch land on faces. Laurent Sénéchal cuts the reconstructions the court demands as if they were memories, which nobody in the court has. There is no composer credited and no score; the only music is what people in the story choose to play, and that 50 Cent cover is the film’s best joke.

Around Hüller the cast is exact. Arlaud plays Renzi as a decent man who has to be a little indecent to do his job, and shows the discomfort. Milo Machado-Graner, as Daniel, the only other person at the house that day, carries the film’s last hour without one false note of child-actor sweetness. Jehnny Beth is quietly good as Marge Berger, the court officer sent to live with him during the trial. Samuel Theis, as Samuel Maleski, appears mostly in other people’s accounts of him, and makes the man real enough that the accounts hurt.

There is a scene in the second half, the one everyone talks about, and we will not describe it beyond saying that it is a marital argument, that the script gives neither party the last word, and that we sat through it rigid. It is the most honest row we have seen in a film for years. What did it was the ordinariness: nobody says anything they could not have said in your kitchen.

The film has faults. At 151 minutes it repeats itself; there are two stretches of expert testimony about angles and blood that make the same point, and the second could go. The prosecution’s case, late on, leans on a reading of fiction as autobiography that the film has already taken apart, and Triet lets the court restate it once more than she needs to. And Reinartz is pitched a shade too close to villainy for a film that is otherwise so careful not to take sides.

Triet’s earlier films, *Victoria* and *Sibyl*, were also about clever women whose private lives got into their work, and this is the one where the form finally fits. As a courtroom film it stands with the best of them, because it would rather you left arguing than satisfied. Watch it with someone whose opinion you trust, and expect to disagree with them on the way home.

*Fi1m score 86, published 10 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

The reviews for Anatomy of a Fall are uniformly positive, and the spread is narrow: nobody files a mixed or negative notice, and the disagreement is over degree, not direction. Most critics arrive at the same two points. The first is Sandra Hüller, whose performance as the accused writer is described as poised, unreadable and open, carrying every possible reading of the character. The second is Justine Triet’s screenplay, praised for the exactness of its trial logistics and for using the courtroom to take a marriage apart rather than to solve a crime. Several critics note that the film leaves its central question unanswered and count that as a virtue.

The reservations are small and scattered. Little White Lies finds it offers less that is new than its polish suggests, Paste thinks Triet holds back from bolder moves, and Screen Daily and Empire mention a slow start and a long runtime. Nobody thinks these outweigh the rest.

## Straight answers

**Is Anatomy of a Fall worth watching?**

*Anatomy of a Fall* is worth watching for anyone who can sit through 151 minutes of a French court arguing about a marriage, and we scored it 86. Sandra Hüller is remarkable, the script is exact, and the film never tells you whether she pushed him. It repeats itself in the expert testimony and could lose ten minutes without anyone noticing.

**How long is Anatomy of a Fall, and what is it rated?**

*Anatomy of a Fall* runs 2h 31m. It is a thriller and mystery film.

**Where can I watch Anatomy of a Fall in the UAE?**

*Anatomy of a Fall* is available to rent from Apple TV from AED 14.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is Anatomy of a Fall, and is it suitable for children?**

*Anatomy of a Fall* is a UK 15 with almost no violence on screen: the fall of the title is never shown, and the film is a trial, not a thriller of chases or blood. What earns the certificate is adult material, including a long and unsparing marital row and courtroom talk of blood and injuries. It is not for children, and teenagers will need patience more than nerve.

**How does Anatomy of a Fall compare to A Separation?**

*Anatomy of a Fall* and [*A Separation*](https://film.one/film/a-separation) both put a marriage in front of a judge and refuse to say who is right, but Justine Triet's film is a courtroom drama about one unproven death, while Asghar Farhadi's is a family drama about a divorce that pulls in everyone around it. Farhadi's is the tighter and fairer of the two; Triet's is the more gripping single performance, thanks to Hüller. Watch both if you like leaving a film still arguing.

**What should I watch after Anatomy of a Fall?**

After *Anatomy of a Fall*, try [*A Separation*](https://film.one/film/a-separation) (2011, Fi1m 93): An Iranian marriage comes apart in front of a judge; every witness is half right. Then [*Anatomy of a Murder*](https://film.one/film/anatomy-of-a-murder) (1959, Fi1m 87): Preminger’s courtroom classic, where procedure is the drama and nobody is quite innocent.

### Reviews we read (25)

- **Financial Times**, Danny Leigh (★★★★★): The review calls it a superlative thriller of gravity and complexity, with Sandra Hüller's authentic star turn driving a modern courtroom story full of doubt and Hitchcockian wit. The film's forensic details and emotional depth are highlighted. [Read](https://www.ft.com/content/3a7284bb-78f1-4048-bf15-b2e5fc6472c8)
- **The Telegraph**, Tim Robey (5/5): The review hails the film as a sparkling intellectual thriller with a diamond script that explores every detail of the case and relationship with precision. Hüller's masterful performance and the film's lingering wizardry are singled out for praise. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/cannes-2023-anatomy-of-a-fall-review-justine-triet/)
- **The AV Club**, Courtney Howard (A-): Triet crafts a fresh courtroom procedural that sustains suspense while dissecting a marriage and family dynamics through layered sound design and performances. Hüller delivers a towering, nuanced turn as the accused writer whose identity is scrutinized. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/anatomy-of-a-fall-movie-review-1850913823)
- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (90/100, inferred): The critic praises the film's gripping, intricate screenplay and dynamic courtroom drama that keeps audiences guessing about a marriage and a suspicious death. Sandra Hüller's compelling performance anchors the story's exploration of bias and ambiguity. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/nov/12/anatomy-of-a-fall-review-justine-triet-cannes-palme-dor-winner-sandra-huller)
- **Empire**, Laura Venning (85/100, inferred): The film is a gripping family drama that disguises itself as a murder mystery while dissecting the disintegration of a marriage. It singles out the strong ensemble cast and perceptive script for maintaining momentum despite the long runtime and ambiguity. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/anatomy-of-a-fall/)
- **Evening Standard**, Sophie Monks Kaufman (85/100, inferred): This gorgeously poised psychodrama functions as a court procedural and character study that interrogates how female guilt is judged by likeability. It singles out Sandra Hüller’s enigmatic, poised performance as carrying every possible reading of the central character. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/an-anatomy-of-a-fall-justine-triet-palme-dor-movie-review-b1119463.html)
- **Little White Lies**, David Jenkins (4/4/3): The critic calls it compelling Hitchcockian hokum with immaculately precise plotting that poses an existential conundrum about culpability and truth. It singles out Sandra Hüller's technically astounding central performance while noting the film offers less that is new than its formal pleasures suggest. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/anatomy-of-a-fall)
- **The i Paper**, Christina Newland (80/100, inferred): The Palme d’Or winner is an utterly unconventional and slow-burn courtroom drama that leaves its biggest questions unanswered yet remains compelling and satisfying. It singles out the meticulous exploration of trial logistics and chronology alongside standout performances, particularly Sandra Hüller’s sphinx-like turn. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/anatomy-fall-review-palme-dor-winner-2738641)
- **Time Out** (4/5): The critic finds it a captivating and emotionally searing Alpine murder-mystery that blends Rear Window with Marriage Story. It praises the film's psychological and emotional depth, complex characters, and treatment of marriage as a prime suspect in the whodunit. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/anatomy-of-a-fall-2023)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Justin Chang: The Palme d’Or winner is a superb, ambiguous courtroom drama that demolishes notions of empirical truth in a marriage. The critic singles out Sandra Hüller’s brilliant, nuanced performance as the standout element. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-10-13/anatomy-of-a-fall-review-palme-dor-winner-sandra-huller-justine-triet)
- **Screen Daily**: The critic notes a rewarding Palme d’Or-winning courtroom drama that conveys a complicated woman through an intriguing trial narrative. It highlights Sandra Hüller's nuanced central performance in a twisty, thought-provoking film that gains dramatic traction after a slow start. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/anatomy-of-a-fall-cannes-review/5182411.article)
- **Sight and Sound**: The critic describes the film as a gripping, sharply intelligent psychological drama centered on a trial that dissects a marriage and questions of responsibility and passion. It highlights the nuanced central performance by Sandra Hüller and the searing screenplay's examination of professional jealousy and relational dynamics. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/anatomy-of-a-fall-sharply-intelligent-psychological-drama-from-justine-triet)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Jon Frosch: Triet delivers a gripping, richly layered drama about a writer on trial for her husband's murder that explores the unknowability of people and relationships. The critic praises Hüller's sensational lead performance and the film's nuanced take on legal assumptions and storytelling. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/anatomy-of-a-fall-review-sandra-huller-justine-triet-1235496751/)
- **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane: Triet’s slippery thriller excels at generating uncertainty about a marriage and a death through meticulous scrutiny of evidence and testimony. The critic highlights the masterful performances, especially Hüller’s, and the film’s refusal to resolve its puzzles neatly. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/the-current-cinema/10/16/anatomy-of-a-fall-movie-review)
- **The New York Times**, Amy Nicholson: The film is a cerebral trial drama that keeps the audience off-balance by focusing on the question of guilt rather than providing an answer. The critic praises the way it dissects the flaws and contradictions of an ordinary woman under scrutiny. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/12/movies/anatomy-of-a-fall-review.html)
- **The Times**, Kevin Maher (★★★★☆): The critic notes the film's prestige makeover of courtroom thriller clichés, shifting focus to the brutality of intimacy in a marriage. The impeccable screenplay and strong performances deliver a show-stopping trial. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/anatomy-of-a-fall-film-review-sb85vhqfg)
- **Vulture**, Bilge Ebiri: The film is a courtroom thriller and marital drama that probes whether we can ever fully know or grasp the truth amid shifting perceptions and resentments. Ebiri highlights the central fight scene and Hüller's performance walking the line between open and unreadable. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/film-review-justine-triets-cannes-winner-anatomy-of-a-fall.html)
- **Collider**, Therese Lacson (A): The critic finds the Palme d'Or winner a gripping and enigmatic story about perception, truth, and ambition that stands out as one of the best films of Cannes. Sandra Hüller's compelling performance and the story's intricate details make it worthy of a rewatch. [Read](https://collider.com/anatomy-of-a-fall-review/)
- **Deadline**, Damon Wise (90/100, inferred): Triet's film is a ferociously intelligent and deceptively playful drama that uses genre as a Trojan horse to explore a family's sudden implosion. It centers on Sandra Hüller's tour de force performance as a writer whose innocence is tested in a meticulously deconstructed courtroom setting. [Read](https://deadline.com/2023/05/anatomy-of-a-fall-sandra-huller-justine-triet-ferociously-intelligent-murder-mystery-1235374822/)
- **The Wrap**, Steve Pond (85/100, inferred): Triet's sophisticated film keeps characters and audience off balance with its direct style and deliberate ambiguity in a story blending family drama, whodunit and courtroom elements. It is tense yet subtle and satisfying, with a richly textured central performance from Sandra Hüller. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/anatomy-of-a-fall-review-justine-triets-family-drama-keeps-the-audience-guessing/)
- **The Ringer** (80/100, inferred): The critic highlights the film's exploration of toxic influence, gender dynamics, and how the trial exposes the messiness of a marriage beyond simple victim-or-perpetrator framing. It draws comparisons to real-life cases like The Staircase for its suspense and unresolved questions. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2023/05/31/movies/2023-cannes-film-festival-best-movies-may-december-anatomy-of-a-fall)
- **The Skinny**, Jojo Ajisafe (★★★★): The critic praises the film's complex portrayal of a couple's troubled relationship and the compelling performances, especially Sandra Hüller's, while noting how it subverts the courtroom drama genre with ambiguity and focus on characters rather than the crime. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/anatomy-of-a-fall-review)
- **Eye for Film**, Amber Wilkinson: The slowburn drama keeps the question of guilt or innocence hanging while getting to the heart of the couple’s relationship. Hüller’s unfussy performance allows the character’s ambiguities to shine as the film focuses on how evidence affects the son. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/anatomy-of-a-fall-2023-film-review-by-amber-wilkinson)
- **Film Stories**, Maria Lattila: The critic finds the Palme d’Or winner a taut and smart drama with a fascinating murder mystery that flows well despite its length. Triet’s precise direction creates tension through gender and marital dynamics explored in the courtroom proceedings. [Read](https://filmstories.co.uk/reviews/anatomy-of-a-fall-review-a-smartly-constructed-courtroom-drama/)
- **Paste**, Katarina Docalovich (8.0): The critic calls it one of the most sharply made courtroom dramas in recent memory, praising its interrogation of a marriage and especially the child's grief arc and performance. Triet's refusal to fully commit to bolder moves or gut punches is noted as a limitation. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/justine-triet/anatomy-of-a-fall-review)

## Details

- **Director:** Justine Triet
- **Director:** Justine Triet
- **Screenplay:** Justine Triet, Arthur Harari
- **Cinematography:** Simon Beaufils
- **Editor:** Laurent Sénéchal
- **Production design:** Emmanuelle Duplay
- **Costume design:** Isabelle Pannetier
- **Producer:** Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion
- **Cast:** Sandra Hüller as Sandra Voyter; Swann Arlaud as Maître Vincent Renzi; Milo Machado-Graner as Daniel; Antoine Reinartz as Advocate General; Samuel Theis as Samuel Maleski; Jehnny Beth as Marge Berger; Saadia Bentaïeb as Maître Nour Boudaoud; Camille Rutherford as Zoé Solidor
- **Runtime:** 2h 31m
- **First release (France):** 21 May 2023
- **Genres:** Thriller, Mystery, Crime
- **Also in:** [Best Picture winners](https://film.one/collections/oscar-best-picture.md) (Nominee, 2023); [BAFTA Best Film winners](https://film.one/collections/bafta-best-film.md) (Nominee, 2023); [Golden Globe Best Drama winners](https://film.one/collections/golden-globe-drama.md) (Nominee, 2023); [Palme d'Or winners](https://film.one/collections/palme-dor.md) (Winner, 2023)
- **Budget:** $7 million
- **Box office:** $36 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MdTMA0PetA

## Where to watch in the UAE

- Apple TV: rent AED 14.99, hd
- Apple TV: buy AED 49.99, sd

*Checked 2026-09-10.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, ES, FI, FR, GB, IE, IN, IT, JP, KR, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PL, PT, SE, SG, TR, US, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Gaudí Award for Best European Film 2025: Gaudí Award for Best European Film (won)
- Academy Awards 2024: Best Actress (nominated); Best Director (nominated); Best Film Editing (nominated); Best Picture (nominated); Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated)
- César Award for Best Film 2024: César Award for Best Film (won)
- Lumière Award for Best Actress 2024: Lumière Award for Best Actress (won)
- Cannes Film Festival 2023: Palme d'Or (won)
- European Film Award for Best Film 2023: European Film Award for Best Film (won)
- European University Film Award 2023: European University Film Award (won)
- Golden Globes 2023: Best English-Language Foreign Film (won)

## If you liked this

- *Saint Omer* (2022): Another French trial of a woman nobody in the court can read, told even more quietly.
- *A Separation* (2011), Fi1m 93: An Iranian marriage comes apart in front of a judge; every witness is half right. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/a-separation.md)
- *Scenes from a Marriage* (1973): Bergman’s six hours of two people talking, which Triet’s row scene plainly remembers.
- *The Staircase* (2004): The documentary series about a wife dead at the foot of the stairs, and a husband on trial.
- *Anatomy of a Murder* (1959), Fi1m 87: Preminger’s courtroom classic, where procedure is the drama and nobody is quite innocent. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/anatomy-of-a-murder.md)

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© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/anatomy-of-a-fall