Oscar nominee Anatomy of a Fall overturns the verdict on tired courtroom dramas

As a genre, the courtroom drama has become derivative and clichéd, writes Geoffrey Macnab. With the unexpected triumph of Justine Triet’s brilliantly incisive ‘Anatomy of a Fall’, here’s hoping that other on-screen legal battles will follow suit

Sandra Hüller as Sandra in Justine Triet’s ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ (LES FILMS PELLEAS)

When it comes to courtroom dramas, we know the clichés. The alcoholic lawyer gets one last shot at redemption (Paul Newman in The Verdict); the sick barrister takes on an impossible case (Charles Laughton in Witness for the Prosecution); juror number eight refuses to change his mind (Henry Fonda in 12 Angry Men); the small-town lawman goes up against the city slicker (James Stewart in Anatomy of a Murder); the callow lawyer vies with his superiors (Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men); the white patrician represents the Black man accused of rape (Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird).

You’ll have seen these stories, or variations on them, in countless films. If Hollywood screenwriters could be charged for recycling the same material, these ones would be found guilty by unanimous decision. The courtroom drama is one genre that seems to have long since exhausted all the arguments for a stay of execution. For the most part, they are claustrophobic, talk-heavy, melodramatic – and derivative – which is why the recent success of Justine Triet’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner, Anatomy of a Fall is so surprising.

Last week, the movie picked up a handful of European film awards. It is now being tipped for Oscars and Golden Globes. Triet’s minutely observed legal drama turns out to be as much about the inner workings of the French judicial system as it is the dynamics of a marriage. A husband, Samuel Maleski (Samuel Theis), is dead in the snow after tumbling from the balcony of his chalet. Was it suicide? Did he lose his footing? Was he bludgeoned with a blunt instrument by his novelist wife, Sandra Voyter (Sandra Hüller)?