Is ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ Based on a True Story?

The French legal drama Anatomy of a Fall has been added to the Hulu catalog after winning Best Original Screenplay at the 2024 Academy Awards and Best Picture and Best Screenplay at the 2024 Golden Globes.

The script by Justine Triet, who also directed, and her partner Arthur Harari has left viewers wondering if the movie is based on a true story.

Anatomy of a Fall follows German writer Sandra (Sandra Hüller) in the wake of the death of her French husband Samuel (Samuel Theis), whose body was found outside of their home by their blind 11-year-old son Daniel (Milo Machado Graner).

Sandra enters a difficult legal battle when police are unable to determine the cause of Samuel’s death.

Now, anybody who watches true crime knows that the basics of this story are nothing new. People kill their spouses in real life all the time. But are the specifics of the story based on a true story?

Anatomy of a Fall, complete with a twisty ending, dives deep into Sandra and Samuel’s rocky marriage and Sandra’s boundary-blurring relationship with her lawyer.

Was any of that real? Are Sandra and Samuel based on real people? Here’s everything you need to know about if the movie is based on a true story.

Is Anatomy of a Fall Based on a True Story?

Despite the somewhat familiarity of the story in Anatomy of a Fall, the French movie is not based on a true story. But while the characters are fictional, Triet expressed in a 2023 interview with The Hollywood Reporter that she drew inspiration from true crime stories.

“I read these kinds of true crime stories on an almost daily basis and watch, again almost on a daily basis, these trial movies and series. So they were an inspiration,” Triet said.

The filmmaker shared that she had always wanted to do a film about a legal trial, but often felt as though the resolution was always too “obvious.”

“I don’t want to give any spoilers for the film, but the resolution here is not obvious. My intention in making this film is to have something quite complex and, even by the end of the film, unclear,” Triet explained.

Triet said that, alongside her co-writer, they wanted to “constantly create questions around the case and around the trial” in the movie. “You can see it as a whodunit, but I think it’s mainly a film about a couple’s relationship,” she shared.

Overall, Triet wrote the main character with actor Sandra Hüller in mind. In an interview with W Magazine, the director said, “When we wrote the script, we sent it to Sandra, and she had to take French lessons… I thought that would be a way for her to say yes. It was a little trap!”