On the night of January 7 to 8, 2024, director Justine Triet made France proud. And for good reason ! A few months after winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes, the creator ofAnatomy of a fall repeats the feat by winning not one, but two Golden Globes across the Atlantic! Best screenplay, for the story co-written with his companion Arthur Harari, and best foreign language film. A consecration for this feature film which tells the story of a woman writer, played by the German actress Sandra Hüller, is accused of the murder of her husband. A trial film that scrutinizes this couple’s relationships and places their visually impaired 11-year-old child at the center of the plot and the legal system through his testimony.
Despite its unanimous critical success, the film will not represent France at the 96th Academy Awards. It is The passion of Dodin Bouffant of Tran Anh Hung who will have this chance. Questioned by politicians and anonymous people on social networks for his lack of reaction to this event – unlike that sparked by the Depardieu affair – Emmanuel Macron ended up congratulating the victorious director on “proud to see French cinema rewarded at the Golden Globes, he writes. Congratulations to Justine Triet, the actors and the entire team of the film Anatomy of a Fall.” Following this resounding victory, Current wife looks at five key facts to remember about the director everyone is talking about.
“Anatomy of a Fall” is the first of his films to exceed one million admissions abroad
Anatomy of a fall represents the fifth best start for a film having won the Palme d’Or at Cannes since 2004. On the day of its theatrical release, August 23, 2023, Justine Triet’s film recorded 55,382 admissions. It’s more than Parasite by Bong Joon-ho, Palme d’Or 2019 at Cannes, best film at the 92nd Academy Awards and best foreign language film at the Golden Globes, which reached 54,941 admissions. In December 2023, the film directed by Sandra Hüller crossed the threshold of 1 million admissions abroad, according to Unifrance, an organization specializing in French cinema and its export abroad. An unprecedented performance for the director, including the first three feature films – The Battle of Solferino (2013), Victoria (2016) and Sibyl (2019) – were far from the mark.
When she wrote the script for her film, Justine Triet didn’t believe it at all
On the stage of the Golden Globes, Justine Triet gave a less controversial speech than the one that followed her awards ceremony in Cannes. In English with a very recognizable French accent, she shared an anecdote about the beginnings of the conception of the film with her audience. “I see myself at the start of the project. It was during the chaos of the pandemic, with my partner Arthur Harari, we spent our days writing the script forAnatomy of a fall confined in our apartment and luckily no one died (audience laughter). I remember we laughed about it a lot, but it’s radical and very dark, that’s for sure, no one will want to see this filmit’s too long, the characters talk all the time, there’s no soundtrack, it’s about arguments, suicide, there’s a dog vomiting… But I really wanted to make this film.” History proved him wrong. A beautiful success story French-style.
Justine Triet never went to film school
Initially, Justine Triet did not intend for a career in cinema. She studied painting, which she has practiced since adolescence, at the Beaux-Arts, reveals an article from Inrockuptibles from August 22, 2023. During her studies, she discovered video and editing… which never left her. “To tell the truth, before the age of 23 or 24, I had not even imagined one day making a film“, she confided to the cultural magazine. We had to wait longer to imagine making a real career out of it. Having not gone through a traditional course, the director did not have the codes of professionalization and monetization of the profession. “For a long time, I worked outside the economy. I lived off temporary jobs: I was a waitress, an usherette at the Théâtre du Châtelet, at the RSA, she added in this interview. For a long time I thought that the only way to make films was to seduce people into agreeing to do everything or lend everything for free!” [rires] And this until 2016 and the release of his film Victoriawhich made more than 640,000 entries at the box office, she confided.
She is the third woman to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes
On May 27, 2023, she was crowned best director for her film Anatomy of a fall at Cannes. An ultimate consecration for Justine Triet, whose three feature films, The Battle of Solferino Victoria And Sibyl all passed through the film festival in one way or another. She is also the third woman (only!) to have obtained this award in 76 editions of the competition, after Jane Campion in 1993 with The piano lesson and Julia Ducournau in 2021 for Titanium.
She regularly features figures of strong women
The character of Sandra, played by Sandra Hüller, in Anatomy of a fall is the perfect example: “She breaks free from the norm and does exactly what she wants”declared the director to Number on August 31, 2023. It’s a constant for her, following heroines who, by her own admissions “are not victims”. Justine Triet draws this subtle questioning of gender relations through her characters from her own experience. “I have a way of living that has not been the norm for a long time”, she admits without difficulty. We can’t wait to see what his next film has in store for us!