Cool Stuff: Best Picture Nominee Anatomy Of A Fall Is Quickly Joining The Criterion Collection In May
With film distributors becoming stingier about physical media and defaulting to streaming, The Criterion Collection has been picking up slack. For instance, Criterion has released physical copies of acclaimed Netflix originals like "The Irishman," "Roma," and "Marriage Story."
Joining the collection in May 2024 is Justine Triet's "Anatomy of a Fall," just released in North America back in October 2023 by Neon (following a run in France, courtesy of Le Pacte). As Criterion confirmed on Twitter, the film enters the collection alongside classics such as Michael Powell's "Peeping Tom."
Does "Anatomy of a Fall" deserve to be in such company? We at /Film think so, since we ranked it one of the 15 best movies of 2023. If you don't believe us, it won the Palme d'Or at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival (the highest prize), and it's up for several Oscars at the 96th Academy Awards (including Best Picture and Best Director for Justine Triet).
The film's title homages the classic Jimmy Stewart film "Anatomy of a Murder" (directed by Otto Preminger), and like that film, is primarily a courtroom drama. Outside a snowy cabin in France, Samuel Maleski (Samuel Theis) is found lying dead by his blind son Daniel (Milo Machado-Graner). The question becomes — did he fall? Did he jump? Or did his wife, Sandra Voyter (Sandra Hüller), push him?
"Anatomy of a Fall" is multilingual, with many domestic scenes in English (a "compromise" between the German Sandra and French Samuel) while the courtroom scenes are in French. Since the film is about the stories we tell ourselves to obfuscate the truth, this flourish of miscommunication makes plenty of sense.
Interviews on a Fall
Criterion's release of "Anatomy of a Fall" includes both a Blu-ray edition (retail priced at $39.95) and a DVD (retail priced at $29.95). Both editions are available for pre-order on Criterion's website and are set for release on May 28, 2024. The cover art, pictured below, is a headshot of Hüller but the text echoes the color design of the film's theatrical poster; snow white with light stains of red blood.
Criterion's releases are famous for their special features, both physical and digital, and "Anatomy of a Fall" will be no exception. These include:
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A new interview with Justine Triet
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Deleted and alternate scenes with commentary by Triet
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Audition footage of Machado-Graner and Antoine Reinartz (who plays the unnamed prosecutor at Sandra's trial)
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Rehearsal footage of Hüller and Machado-Graner
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The "Anatomy of a Fall" trailer
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An essay by critic Alexandra Schwartz.
The film is rendered in a 2K digital master, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack and English subtitles — a necessity if you don't speak French. Even so, the dialogue of "Anatomy of a Fall" will enthrall you no matter what language it's spoken in. The film refuses to give concrete answers — we so rarely know the whole truth of someone's life outside our own, after all. In doing so, it puts you in the shoes of a juror; you have to decide what you think of Sandra yourself from limited information. It helps that Hüller slips into so many different sides of her character: proud artist, aggrieved wife, concerned mother, grieving victim. Even if you're paying close attention, you have to make up your own mind.
The only conclusion I'm sure you will draw? "Anatomy of a Fall" is a worthy entry to the Criterion Collection.