Winner of the Palme d'Or, Cannes 2023.

Reviews: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/anatomy_of_a_fall

Looking forward to this.

This was exceptional. Directing, acting, writing all top notch.

I know many industry folks were surprised when France didn’t select this as their film for the International Film, but I think it has a chance in a lot of the main categories.

This starts to roll out to more theatres this weekend.

The two extended flashback sequences with Samuel Theis as the now dead husband were two of the most gut-wrenching scenes I've seen in a movie this year. It's long, but the way the movie slowly peels back the layers of the central relationship is riveting, not to mention a little soul crushing.

Spending 6 total hours in a theater over the course of two days between this and Killers of the Flower Moon has left me emotionally exhausted to say the least.

This movie is intense (in a good way). Likely Oscar candidate for leading actress.

I think this is outstanding. It is bursting with the kind of richness in character and story detail you usually only find in multi-part TV series.

Made me wish I knew more about France's criminal courts procedure, I think that would have enriched the movie even more for me.

Still haven’t seen this. Looks great.

Solid film.

This is one of the BEST I have seen this year for sure.

I liked it a lot. Was interesting seeing a courtroom drama set in another country. They have completely different rules when it comes to questioning the defendant. And I had no idea there was a jury in that court until the verdict. Was really surprised to find this movie was mostly in English.
The case in the movie felt a lot like the Peterson case in The Staircase, which makes sense since that case and trial was covered by a French documentary crew.

Thought there was a South Korean movie that had the same plot recently.

You weren’t kidding. I thought this would bore me, and although it does run a bit long, it’s riveting damn near the whole way through.

very good film.

I assume you mean Decision To Leave, which other than the starting point of "man-dies-in-fall-and-wife-is-suspect", does not have a plot at all similar to this.

Since there's no thread for The Taste of Things...

France may have screwed up by not choosing Anatomy of a Fall as their official submission this year given all the acclaim it's gotten, but I just saw The Taste of Things and I'd say it's every bit as good this one. Depending on your *gulp* tastes, The Taste of Things might be even better. I'm actually stunned now that it didn't get a nomination in international feature.

Is Anatomy of a Fall in enough French to even qualify for the award?

Yes.

International feature only requires >50% non-English dialogue. It used to be that the language had to be the submitting nation's primary language, but that requirement was dropped many years ago. Anatomy of a Fall is about 60% French with a side helping of German, so it's eligible. Supposedly the 7 person committee tasked with choosing France's submission was split 4-3 on Taste of Things and Anatomy.

Watched this on a long flight today, very well done movie. If you ever wanted to know what it feels like to be on trial, this is probably the movie for you.

Just watched this on Hulu after hearing it mentioned in a Best of 2023 podcast, and it was really good.

Yeah, I kept expecting "Counsel is testifying and grandstanding!" etc. And then they'd question the wife when someone else was on the stand and other oddities.

I don't know why it took me so long to finally watch this. It's long been on my watchlist; Sandra Huller was amazing in Zone of Interest . . . but it didn't stick for me.

I am going to take the fall on this one, maybe it was my mood, and I just didn't settle in for it. It wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, but I was hoping for more mystery or suspense. Again, maybe I just wasn't dialed in enough, but I didn't see a whole lot of clues or efforts to subvert/lead your conclusion.

Or maybe my challenge was the painting of this as a suspense/mystery when it really is a character study of characters who, while very realistic and relatable, are not all that interesting. Zone of Interest was far superior in that regard.