After Jane Campion and Julia Ducorneau, Justine Triet (1978) has become the third woman to win the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. He has achieved this with Anatomía de una caída, an intense court drama around a German writer (exceptional Sandra Hüller) accused of the death of her husband, stripped bare after falling from the attic of their chalet in the French Alps. She denies it and the only witnesses are her visually impaired son and her dog. The film closely follows a judicial process that unravels in detail the couple’s complex relationship. Triet’s camera invites the viewer to be another member of the jury that will decide the innocence or guilt of the protagonist under a series of moral judgments about her person.
He has said that Anatomy of a Fall is his most personal film. How did the story come about?
I think I started thinking about the film when I decided to sink into the vertigo of what a couple means and especially of this woman, of her mind. To delve into the couple’s story, I needed to delve into a genre film. I love trial movies.
The film openly exposes the intimacy of a couple. How do you see the fact that now on social networks many people shamelessly exhibit their private lives?
I belong to the generation that didn’t have Facebook before I turned 25 and I think most of my upbringing has been without social media and even without a cell phone. I belong to the generation that wants to protect itself. I don’t have the codes of young people, who know very well how to protect themselves. It’s something that scares me and something we have to get used to. On the other hand, justice has also evolved and now videos and photographs are used. If before only the word dominated, now it’s the image and it’s something I wanted to reflect in the film.
There is also a very clear judgment towards the woman. How do people’s eyes change when they talk about a strong and successful woman like Sandra?
What really threatens people is that this woman seems free and that she perfectly assumes the life she has chosen. It is completely independent of the judgment of others. He is not a good victim and, because he is not a good victim, he becomes a kind of threat to society. It is a threat to the moral view, it is something that I have always been passionate about and that is evolving. For example, in Clouzot’s La verdad, Brigitte Bardot was very mistreated by men, who saw her as a kind of monster because she felt free. It was the sixties and she chose not to have a partner. And in Anatomía de una caída, Sandra is a writer and dominates the story. He speaks several languages, maybe he can deceive us, and that’s what bothers him. She is not a perfect victim, she does not cry or grieve enough for the loss of her husband. He also calmly accepts his bisexuality. I find all of this exciting. And there is the idea of ??reciprocity in the couple. what do i give you what do you give me what do i owe you what do you owe me Women for many years have lived taking care of the house and working. In the film I reverse the roles. But I’m not saying women should kick men out, not by a long shot!
The husband’s psychologist says in the trial that with time one sees clearly what is real and what is not…
I think he naively thought that the truth was told in the courtroom. It took me years to understand that no. To begin with, lawyers set aside the truth because what matters is that the client wins. They build a story and the prosecutor does the same. We have two parallel stories and in the center a truth that does not touch.
How do you feel about winning the Palme d’Or?
It has been the most exciting moment of my life. I’m definitely not going through this again. It was a double joy because I knew they would give me an award, but I didn’t think about the Palm. After Jane Campion, Julia and with Jane Fonda presenting the award, the fourth J was for me (laughter).
Are you surprised that France chose A fuego lento instead of your film for the Oscars?
Totally. It has been a disappointment. Especially because my film has won the Palme d’Or and has had more than a million viewers. Why does my own country do this?