Anatomy of a Fall, Oscar winner from France

 "Anatomy of a Fall" (2023) came to the Oscars with strong credentials from the Cannes Film Festival and the French Caesar awards.  It is a French film, but with much English dialogue included.  Language plays a role as one differential between the main couple.  The female lead feels more comfortable speaking in English and has many conversations where she listens to French questions and answers in English.  Occasionally she does speak French.

Basically it is a court room drama based on what might have been an accident, but others saw as either a murder or suicide.  In the court room we are subjected to evidence dealing with blood splatter, but also delves into the relationship between husband and wife including an audio tape of an argument with some violence.  At the heart Sandra was a moderately successful writer whereas he was a failed one.   On the other hand she had borrowed one of his plot devices with success.  She noted that they lived near his home town where her language was secondary.  Their son Daniel had been in had accident that left him partially blind and he was blamed.  Daniel loved both parents is a key witness, but he changes some details.  Near the end he recalls an incident with the family dog and conversation with his father on the way from their vet. 

A big winner at Cannes and the French Caesar.  Five nominations  for an Oscar with one win for bst original screenplay.  Here are some of the contributors for its success.

Justine Triet was writer and director and admitted she wrote the script with Sandra Huller in mind.  She lives with an shares 2 children with co-author Arthur Hrari.  She has 8 director, 5 writing and 4 editor credits.  She and Arthur share Oscar for best original script.

Arthur Harari was the co-writer and also played a small role in the film as a literary critic.  He has 14 acting, 6 writing and 5 directory credits.

A striking music included was a steel drum band performance of a cover for P.I.M.P. the original hip hop version of 50 cent piece.  It was very loud, played to annoy Sandra, just before the fall.  The original contained racist and sexist words.  The performer was the Bacao Rythm & Steel Band.  It was so mesmerizing I bought a copy.

Simon Beaufils was responsible for the cinematography.  He has 61 cinematography and 29 electrical and camera credits including a favorite, "The Intouchables" (2011). 

Laurent Senechal was the editor.  He has 19 editing and 16 Editorial Department credits.

Sandra Huller played Sandra Voyter.  Her first language is German, but has appeared in French, English and Austrian films.  She has a strong theatre background.  For one of her films she became a licensed forklift operator.  She has 43 acting credits including "Toni Erdman" (2016).  An unusual occurence was she was nominated as best actress for two foreign films in the recent Oscars.

Swann Arlaud played Vincent, Sandra's lawyer.  He was the son on a casting director  He has 65 acting, 2 dirextor and 2 writing credits.

Milo Machado-Graner played the key role of Daniel.  Originally they were looking for a partially blind actor who is blond, but he impressed the director so much he got the part anyway.  He had 6 acting credits.

Samuel Theis played the dead husband Samuel shown in flashbacks.  He has 30 acting 3 writing and 2 directing credits.  

Jehnny Beth played Marge a court appointed helper for Daniel.  Although French born Jehnny had a career as a musician in the United Kingdom.  She has 11 acting, 2 writing and 4 composing credits.

Messi the dog played a key role in the final decision.  At Cannes he won a special prize and at the Oscars he was given his own seat and appeared in the event video.

It is available on Prime, subtitled for the French parts, but with a lot of English dialogue.  It deserved the best original script Oscar (and many other awards).