'Anatomy Of A Fall'

Source: Lionsgate

‘Anatomy Of A Fall’

Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall was named best film of the year at France’s Lumiere Awards on Monday evening.

Triet and co-writer Arthur Harari also took home the best screenplay award and lead Sandra Hüller earned the prize for best actress at the 29th edition of the awards, considered to be France’s version of the Golden Globes and voted on by international correspondents from 36 countries.

The courtroom drama about a woman on trial for her husband’s death in the French Alps was nominated in six categories, but Lumiere voters spread their votes across the board as 10 other French films each took home one of the remaining prizes in what was a balanced division of accolades.

Arieh Worthalter was named best actor for Cedric Kahn’s The Goldman Case, another arthouse courtroom drama that got its start in Cannes.

Thomas Cailley was named best director for his genre-blending sci-fi thriller-meets-father-son drama The Animal Kingdom which also premiered on the Croisette and has been a box office success at home with more than one million admissions.

Other Cannes premieres to earn prizes include Iris Kalenbäck’s The Rapture named best first film, Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters which won best documentary, and Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s About Dry Grasses named best international co-production.

Jonathan Ricquebourg scooped the best cinematography prize for France’s best international feature Oscar entry The Taste Of Things and Ella Rumpf was named most promising female newcomer for her role in Anna Novion’s mathematics-centred drama Marguerite’s Theorem.

Raphael Quenard took home the most promising male newcomer award for his breakout role in Jean-Baptiste Durand’s friendship drama Junkyard Dogs, Vitalic earned the prize for best musical score for Giacomo Abbruzzese’s Berlin competition title Disco Boy, and Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach won best animated film for Linda Wants Chicken!

The ceremony remained subdued other than a few speeches which touched upon the current conflict in the Middle East. Four Daughters director Ben Hania said, “I’m taking advantage of this speech to ask for a ceasefire in Gaza.”

An Israeli journalist presenting an award sent her thoughts to the 136 hostages still captive in Gaza and The Goldman Case’s Arieh Worthalter also used his speech to say, “October 7th is being used by the government to have the freedom to destroy rather than construct.”

Screenwriting duo and real-life couple Triet and Harari accepted the award together to add some lightness in contrast the more politicised speeches.

“We had a lot of disagreements about this film,” Triet said, adding: “I’m not sure he’ll accept working with me again, but this one time was great.”

Harari enthused: “I was recently in front of a window and wondering if it was a good idea. Fiction can have a strange effect on reality.”

Accepting the prize for best film at the end of the ceremony, Triet said that film critics represent “the most important symbol of our freedom of expression and proof our democratic process, the freedom we have to not agree and to be able to say it”.

She added, “Let’s try to preserve the independent media that contributes to the freedom of our work.”

Following what has been an awards season sweep with two Golden Globe awards for best screenplay and best non-English language film and seven BAFTA nominations, Anatomy Of A Fall is a favourite for Oscar nominations in several categories when they are announced on Tuesday.

The full list of winners follows:

Best film

Anatomy Of A Fall dir. Justine Triet

Last Summer dir. Catherine Breillat

Sons Of Ramses dir. Clément Cogitore

The Goldman Case dir. Cédric Kahn

The Animal Kingdom dir. Thomas Cailley

 

Best director

Catherine Breillat for Last Summer

Thomas Cailley for The Animal Kingdom

Clément Cogitore for Sons Of Ramses

Cédric Kahn for The Goldman Case

Justine Triet for Anatomy Of A Fall

 

Best screenplay

Thomas Cailley for The Animal Kingdom

Quentin Dupieux for Yannick

Cédric Kahn, Nathalie Hertzberg for The Goldman Case

Iris Kaltenbäck for The Rapture

Justine Triet, Arthur Harari for Anatomy Of A Fall

 

Best documentary

Four Daughters dir. Kaouther Ben Hania

Little Girl Blue dir. Mona Achache

Our Body dir. Claire Simon

La Rivière dir. Dominique Marchais

On The Adamant dir. Nicolas Philibert

 

Best actress

Catherine Deneuve for Bernadette

Léa Drucker for Last Summer

Virginie Efira for All To Play For

Hafsia Herzi for The Rapture

Sandra Hüller for Anatomy Of A Fall

 

Best actor

Vincent Lacoste for Along Came Love

Karim Leklou for Vincent Must Die

Melvil Poupaud for Just The Two Of Us

Franz Rogowski for Disco Boy

Arieh Worthalter for The Goldman Case

 

Most promising actress

Suzanne Jouannet for La Voie Royale

Louise Mauroy-Panzani for Ama Gloria

Park Ji-Min for Return To Seoul

Claire Pommet for Spirit Of Ecstasy

Ella Rumpf for Marguerite’s Theorem

 

Most promising actor

Arthur Harari for The Goldman Case

Samuel Kircher for Last Summer

Milo Machado Graner for Anatomy Of A Fall

Raphaël Quenard for Junkyard Dogs

Abdulah Sissoko for The Young Imam

 

Best first film

Bernadette dir. Léa Domenach

Junkyard Dogs dir. Jean-Baptiste Durand

Disco Boy dir. Giacomo Abbruzzese

The Rapture dir. Iris Kaltenbäck

Vincent Must Die dir. Stéphan Castang

 

Best international co-production

The Blue Caftan dir. Maryam Touzani

About Dry Grasses dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Lost Country dir. Vladimir Perišić

Hounds dir. Kamal Lazraq

The Old Oak de Ken Loach

 

Best cinematography

Simon Beaufils for Anatomy Of A Fall

David Cailley for The Animal Kingdom

Hélène Louvart for Disco Boy

Jonathan Ricquebourg for The Taste of Things

Sylvain Verdet for Sons of Ramses

 

Best score

Amine Bouhafa for Four Daughters

Clément Ducol for Chicken For Linda!

Andrea Laszlo de Simone for Animal Kingdom

Chloé Thévenin for The Mountain

Vitalic for Disco Boy

 

Best animated film

No Dogs or Italians Allowed dir. Alain Ughetto

Chicken for Linda! dir. Chiara Malta & Sébastien Laudenbach

Mars Express dir. Jérémie Périn

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman dir. Pierre Földes

The Siren dir. Sepideh Farsi.