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The trick this film masterfully pulls off is that even though there is a suspicious death, an investigation and a detailed trial, at no point is any possibility or resolution ruled out. Such are the writing and performances that the truth of the incident remains unknown right up to and even beyond the conclusion. The fatal tumble from the third floor window could have simultaneously been an accident, a suicide or a homicide and remains so, forever waiting for someone to reveal the truth. It’s Schrödinger’s Murder Mystery.

French director Justine Triet’s film took the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year and sits better among past winners such as the naturalistic Shoplifters, I Daniel Blake, Blue is the Warmest Colour and 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, than it does the more OTT movies that have been given the award in the last few years such as Triangle of Sadness, Titane and Parasite. Right at the start, after or possibly because of the biggest ear-worm to be heard in cinema since Everything is Awesome, Samuel is found dead on the ground outside his mountain cabin. The rest of the film then deals with the long aftermath of this as his wife Sandra and their son Daniel are caught up in legal proceedings, including her trial for his murder. The story does come to a neat ending but even then you are still left with doubts as to whether everything is as it seems. As a viewer of multiple Hollywood films I was expecting some last minute reveal but thankfully one never comes.

While a little bit of ambiguity at the end of a movie can be a good thing (thank you Inception, Blade Runner, The Italian Job and the aforementioned Triangle of Sadness) it almost doesn’t matter here because the circumstances of the death are arguably not what the film is about. It was suggested to me by one of the friends I watched this with that it is clear what happened because the answer is in the title. It was a fall, not a push or a jump. I don’t think that is necessarily what the name of the movie refers to though.

As the investigation and court case progresses, the thing that is picked apart almost as much as the incident that killed Samuel, is his relationship with Sandra. The fall in question seems to be that of their marriage, once healthy and loving but now heading off a cliff following family tragedy, failed ambition, financial strain and ill conceived compromise. The less used second poster seems to support this, depicting them as a couple rather that the corpse in the snow.

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If you specifically want a Gallic courtroom drama I would recommend Stéphane Demoustier’s The Girl With a Bracelet from 2020. If you’re interested in a film that has that element (the prosecution attorney is a particularly nice twist on the nasty lawyer trope – I wanted to throw him out of a window) but also a further reach then this is one to catch before it drops out of cinemas.

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