“Hello, I’m Justine Triet, and I’m the co-writer and the director of ‘Anatomy of a Fall.’” “You’ve got the best book idea. How can I get back here? Do you understand how cynical you are?” “You can publish your own version. Say it inspired me. I’ll admit it.” “So this scene came late in the film. And it’s the sound of a recorded argument playing out in court near the end of the trial, trying to explain the death of the man we finally see on screen. His wife is the accused, and it is only now that we see or hear them interacting.” “I live with you, and you impose everything. You impose your rhythm, your use of time. You even impose your language. Even when it comes to language, I am the one who knows you in your place. We speak English at home.” “I’m not in my place. I don’t speak my own language.” “So the character called Sandra and Samuel are played by actors with the same name – Sandra Hüller and Samuel Theis.” “— to create a middle ground so that no one meets the other on their turf. This is for English. It’s a meeting place. You can’t blame me for that.” “But we live in France.” “There is a lot at stake. We had to fulfill the tease of the scene. We need to convey a certain amount of information and to identify the character of the deceased spouse. The jury and the audience listened to the recording. The clerk shows the French transcript of the argument on the computer screen, and Sandra is confronted with her own voice, with the intimacy of her marriage. And at this point, we get off the scene. We see. For a long time, we wondered if the scene should not remain just sound. But since sound has the power to give the perfect illusion of the present of reality, we decided to dive into it. And if you close your eyes, you’ll actually believe that people are there. You can almost say it’s the inner vision of the visually impaired child the moment he hears his parents’ voice. For me, it’s not a flashback. It’s a description of a sound, so it’s there. I want the viewer to have a very strong sensation to be shown in this intimate. So we are in the kitchen of these people, and they are talking about concrete things, their daily lives, the way they organize their lives and divide responsibilities. They are professional in the balance of their frustrations. And the idea of the scene is simple — to show the reasons for the conflict and then violence between two people, a battle of arguments and ideas within the couple. So we filmed with two cameras so as not to lose any energy. We had to film their words, the words coming out of their mouths. It’s about the artists, the truth with which they say it. And then there is language. They speak in English, which is not their language. He is French, she is German, and they meet in English. And even that becomes one of the topics of conflict, the language question. I wanted to shoot this scene in daylight, with strong light and sunlight. Often, highly dramatic intimate scenes are used to be filmed at night, as if intimacy is separate from the rest of life. And here I chose the opposite. And the contrast between light and violence is stronger for me.” “I have nothing to do with that. You did not sacrifice yourself, as you say! You choose to sit on the sidelines because you are afraid, because your pride is bursting your head before you’ve even formed the tiny germ of an idea! And now you wake up, and you’re 40, and you need someone to blame. And it’s your fault!” “They are never shot in the same frame, except briefly at the beginning.” “This is the truth. You are smart. I know you know I’m right. And Daniel had nothing to do with it! Stop that!” “You monster.” “And just as this violence erupts and becomes physical, the image is removed from the viewer, and we return to the courtroom. We find ourselves in the position of the jury, and especially of young Daniel, in a state of complete uncertainty, not knowing who is hitting whom. Suddenly we realized that we didn’t see anything because we weren’t there. We will never know.” [SOUNDS OF STRUGGLE] [GLASS BREAKING] [MAN AND WOMAN FIGHTING] [BLOWS LANDING] [THUD]
