Justine Triet first appeared in Cannes with her feature debut Age Of Panic, which played in the Acid programme in 2013. The French director’s follow-up In Bed With Victoria (2016) marked the first of her collaborations with Belgian-French actress Virginie Efira, and premiered in Critics’ Week before being nominated for best film and best original screenplay at the Césars.
The duo reunited on Cannes Competition title Sibyl in 2019, which also starred German actress Sandra Hüller — the star of Triet’s latest, Anatomy Of A Fall, premiering in Competition at this year’s festival. Hüller plays a writer whose husband is found dead outside their house in the mountains by the couple’s visually impaired son.
Produced by France’s Les Films Pelléas and Les Films de Pierre in co-production with France 2 Cinéma, Anatomy Of A Fall is sold internationally by mk2 Films.
What inspired you to make Anatomy Of A Fall?
I wanted to make another film about the couple, and about a trial. I thought it would have to be a series — something expansive and detailed — but my producers convinced me that it could be a feature.
At that time, I was full of feelings and impressions, in my own life with my partner, about the way in which everything that is happening around men and women obviously interacts with our own lives. I wanted to talk about what it is to live with someone, to look for equality in the relationship, but also about the almost impossible project that that is.
The courtroom is a place where we have to rephrase what we say — this is the locus of fiction for me. Our lives no longer belong to us. The things we do, the choices we make, are magnified to such an extent that everything takes on meaning, and everything gets distorted.
How did you work with your production partners Les Films Pelléas and Les Films de Pierre?
They were with me from the start, and we all worked very hard. I had one more year than usual to write, and they’d say the script is better when I write for longer. But I like to work fast, and my favourite part is the shoot.
In films about trials, everything has meaning, and we kept falling into our own traps. One idea would create a problem somewhere else. For example, we had decided that sound would play an important role, and we had to make that idea work throughout. The film is a more striking formal project than my past work — it begins almost like a haunted house movie then develops into an auteur film. That’s important to me — I don’t want to let go of this arthouse aspect. It’s more Bergmanesque than it is like an American thriller.
How did you attach your cast?
I had worked with Sandra on Sibyl and felt like I had found a sister, someone who resembles me. She is both very technical and very spontaneous. There is something documentary-like about her work that was important, because I didn’t want a performance that would be too fabricated, too sophisticated.
Which is your favourite Palme d’Or winner?
I almost think of Jane Campion as my mum, or my sister. But Steven Soderbergh’s Sex, Lies, And Videotape is extraordinary. James Spader, the way he delivers his lines — I adore everything about it.
What is your favourite Cannes memory?
The first time, with Age Of Panic. When you’re an artist, you never make things for the public — even less so with your first film, since you don’t think anyone will see it. Suddenly, for the film to be seen, analysed, thought about… it was very powerful.
Why do you think Cannes remains so important for international arthouse cinema?
When people abroad see my films, it’s powerful to hear their different points of view. Cannes is the most cosmopolitan place, and it worships the cinema screen. It almost seems crazy to say now, but Cannes also celebrates a passion for something that is useless yet wonderful at the same time. Because without cinema, what do people do during a pandemic? It’s useless, and wonderful, and it’s what makes people look at each other, talk with each other, try to understand one another. They don’t always succeed, but they try — try to see other images, of women, couples, families. I love to see films with a different perspective from mine, and to share that with others. Cannes is a place where we share; where we fight too, sometimes.
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