Year: 2023 Rated R Genre: Legal, Mystery Language: French, English Runtime: 2:32:00 Director: Justine Triet ☆★★ Main Cast: Sandra Hüller ☆★, Milo Machado-Graner ☆, Swann Arlaud ★, Antoine Reinartz ☆, Samuel Theis, Jehnny Beth
Notable Mentions: Milo Machado-Graner as the Son
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The film felt unpolished. I didn't like the camera work. Also, a lot of the ideas felt unoriginal. Starting with the film title. There is a film from the 50s called Anatomy of a Murder, a legal/courtroom drama film, similar to this. I can't imagine some inspiration wasn't taken from Anatomy of a Murder for this film title. The protagonist is a writer. In one of her books, she wrote about murdering the husband of one of the characters. This was used against the protagonist in court. That reminded me of Basic Instinct. The protagonist was in an unhappy marriage. She had homosexual affairs. That's also done many times before. Despite its flaws, it's a movie worth watching.
Milo Machado-Graner's performance deserves more recognition. Another stellar child actor. Sandra Hüller's character aside, Milo's character is the second most important character in this film. And Milo executed his role perfectly. Milo is more deserving than his fellow male cast mates to receive that Best Supporting Actor nomination at the César Awards. This is another instance, where a child actor is overlooked, due to his lesser known status and age.
I thought the ending was unique. How the case closed. The Son, Milo's character, testified in court that based on a conversation he had with his Dad, he believed his Dad committing suicide was more probable than his Mom killing his Dad. I took that ending at face value. I read online that some folks believe the Son made up that story to protect his Mom. They argued that in the flashback scene, while the audience can see the Dad's mouth moving, only the Son's voice was heard. The Son was giving his version of the flashback. I don't know. I'm not convinced. Sounds like a case of overanalyzing.
