When her husband Samuel is mysteriously found dead in the snow below their secluded chalet, Sandra becomes the main suspect when the police begin to question whether he fell or was pushed.
Released:
Runtime: 151 minutes
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Stars: Swann Arlaud, Milo Machado-Graner, Jehnny Beth, Samuel Theis, Antoine Reinartz, Sandra Hüller, Saadia Bentaïeb, Camille Rutherford, Anne Rotger, Sophie Fillières, Arthur Harari, Pierre-François Garel
Director: Justine Triet
Comments
TxMike - 26 June 2024 Interesting story but it moves along at a very deliberate pace. I found this movie on DVD at my public library. First, I read several reviews and, as mixed as they are, I almost decided to skip it. But I relented and spun it up.
On the positive side it is a compelling story. A married couple with a young sight-impaired son live in a chalet in the mountains not far from Grenoble, France. Dad is French, it is where he grew up, mom is German and doesn't speak French well. So they use a "neutral" language at home, English. (Some dialog is in French but the DVD has subtitles.)
Both are authors but he spends much of his awake time renovating the top floor so that can have room for paying tourists. He has a habit of playing loud music while he is working, he says it keeps him calm.
One day as the son and his dog are returning from a walk in the snow he comes upon his dad, bleeding and dead in the snow. When an autopsy is done it reveals a very sharp blow to his head that probably killed him. Was it an accident? Did he just carelessly fall? Or did the only other person at home, his wife, cause his death?
All this happens to open the movie and set up the story. We see law enforcement, lawyers, friends, and a long process to build a case against the wife with lots of innuendo and supposition.
The bad part is that the movie runs well over 2 hours. In many scenes things, like the boy playing piano, or characters just wandering around, dwell too long without moving the plot forward.
I enjoyed it at a certain level but don't rate it very highly. It is a good movie for those who enjoy reading novels and don't mind if things move slowly.
seemingly_reel - 28 May 2024 Very Worthwhile Quite an insightful, sobering film. This production sets the bar for other movies, which can only hope to reach this depth. The script is sensitively crafted, and the entire cast does an exemplary job, particularly Sandra Hüller and Milo Machado-Graner as her son. There was an ongoing tension in the home environment and the courtroom which got under my skin. Several times I found myself shaken because of certain arguments which were so transparent and jolting. I look forward to further projects from Justine Triet, the brilliant director and writer.
Mere hours after viewing this film, I had a nightmare about losing an old friend, either to murder or suicide... when awakening, I could not figure out which. Frankly, I was surprised this film planted a seed in my dreamworld in such quick order.
eddmurua - 12 May 2024 A bit long, but very Oscars deserving This is a long movie, and the first half actually feels long for no particular reason. The typical "artistic" movie that uses elongated scenes to pause the plot a bit, to let us rest of so much key information, that uses maybe non impactful little scenes just to give us a break here and there...
But also the type of movie that gives the actors scenes, very long scenes, that are "Oscars worthy" by themselves, were the script, dialogue, acting, directing and editing form segments of glory (around 30') that you would hardly forget.
The ending would probably not be the most satisfactory to everybody, but for most it would be the best one this movie full of mystery and intrigue could have. Very good and Oscar deserving movie.