The Crime Thriller Mystery On Hulu That Will Turn You Into A Detective

Anatomy of a Fall kind of, ahem, fell into my lap. My husband likes to find obscure movies he thinks I’ll enjoy and then proceeds to fall asleep while we watch. This scenario played out perfectly during this movie as more than half of the dialogue is in French, a third language for me, and a completely foreign language for him.

This means a lot of reading on a television screen right before bed. 

Still, as someone deeply invested in the life of a female writer balancing the roles of mother and wife, Anatomy of a Fall grabbed me from the beginning. We enter a scene where Sandra Voyter is being interviewed about her writing by a grad student while her young son, Daniel, prepares to take their dog for a walk in the French countryside. Her husband, Samuel, never seen on screen, is banging away at something in the attic.

Quickly, the interview is interrupted by a loud, orchestral version of Fifty Cent’s “P.I.M.P.”

The young woman concludes the interview and leaves, with Sandra promising to call upon her when she’s in town. Moments later, the boy is coming home from his walk and finds his father dead on the ground in the snow outside their home. He screams for his mother, who finally hears him over the blasting music, and she rushes out to the body, grabbing her son in a hug and calling the police.

Because of the way the balcony outside the attic windows is constructed, the fall could not have been an accident, which instantly puts Sandra in the position of suspect. After all, the couple and their son live in an isolated cabin. There are no witnesses, only material evidence and the history of the couple’s troubled relationship to draw on to understand the anatomy of a fall. 

Sandra calls in her old lawyer friend, Vincent, who plays devil’s advocate throughout the film, trying to understand what happened in Anatomy of a Fall. Sandra maintains her innocence, and you cannot help but believe her. Why would she leave her husband’s dead, bloodied body for her son to find?

What would have brought her to such a rage? We watch Sandra, played spectacularly by Sandra Huller, struggle to communicate in French and English, while navigating a French legal system as a woman from Germany. She seems genuine and sincere as she herself tries to understand.

Anatomy of a Fall gives the viewer a front-row seat in a French courtroom, with an interesting interplay between the defense, the prosecution, and the judge. It is so different from the American courtroom dramas we are used to seeing. We catch so many fascinating peeks into life in France here.

We also sympathize and suffer with Daniel, whose vision is impaired, and who is both grieving his father and terrified for his mother. 

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Anatomy of a Fall is deeply intriguing, and I won’t give too much away. Suffice to say you should stream it on Hulu the first chance you get. Just be prepared to do a lot of reading to keep up if you don’t speak French.