Anatomy of a Fall (2023)

Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing    This was an interesting film but I don't know that I liked it.  Definitely never going to watch it again but it's one of those films that's great for discussion.  Content warning:  dog in danger (but doesn't die)

Sandra (Sandra Hüller) is accused of pushing her husband Samuel (Samuel Theis) from the third-floor window and killing him.  She says she didn't.  There were no witnesses except the couple's blind 11-year-old, Daniel (Milo Machado Graner).  Under the stress of trial, every aspect of the marriage is picked apart and Daniel becomes less and less reliable as memory and feelings swirl.

It's a two and a half hour courtroom drama where it's less about whodunit than it is about subjectivity and how we create the fiction that we call our lives.  What makes someone sympathetic?  How much of believability comes from likability?  What do we owe the people in our lives?

This is exactly the kind of thing cinephiles drool over and obviously it's successful.  It won Palme d'Or at Cannes and is probably the dark horse for Best Picture.  I wouldn't be mad if it won, but I still enjoyed Barbie more.  Fun fact:  this is not the French submission for Best International Feature because Justine Triet, the director, came out as pro-union and the government decided to pull her and submit something else instead.  Who doesn't love petty drama on behalf of an entire state apparatus?  

Anyway, this is currently only available for rental but I think it's dropping on a streamer sometime this month.