Golden Globes: Why Sandra Huller (‘Anatomy of a Fall’) will triumph for Best Film Drama Actress
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No actor has had a bigger breakout year in the awards circuit than Sandra Hüller, who has spent her 25-year career in European cinema, with prestige films such as “Requiem” (2006), “In the Aisles” (2018) and the Oscar-nominated “Toni Erdmann” (2016). This year, the German actress stars in two of the biggest international awards contenders: Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” from the United Kingdom and Poland, and Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or-winning “Anatomy of a Fall” from France, the latter of which she is nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Film Drama Actress. Will she clinch the first major precursor award of the season on Sunday, January 7?
This is Hüller’s second collaboration with Triet, previously starring in her 2019 film “Sibyl.” In “Anatomy of a Fall,” she plays Sandra Voyter, a woman accused of murdering her husband, and trying to prove her innocence as she is put on trial. The ambiguous courtroom drama takes a deep exploration into her family life, specifically her marriage with her husband Samuel (Samuel Theis) and her relationship with their visually impaired son, Daniel (Milo Machado Graner), while peeling the layers of her character as she is cross-examined by the prosecution over whether the fall of her husband was intentional or not.
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Nothing is made clear in Neon’s “Anatomy of A Fall,” which makes Hüller’s performance all the more compelling as the viewer has no idea what she has or has not done, nor what her particular motives are in certain situations. Through the editing and what the thriller allows the audience to see, we get inside her headspace of the state of her marriage that keeps building up to a climax, and you can’t help but root for Sandra as the movie unfolds and we see more facets of her.
While Hüller has a number of standout scenes, such as the intense fight with Samuel, and her scenes with Daniel toward the ending, it is her scenes in the trial that showcases the complexity of her subtle performance, the way she uses her bilingual skills as a weapon against the French court system. In the beginning, her cross-examination is conducted in French, but Sandra uses subtle ways to slyly and gradually switch to English – such as apologizing for not knowing certain words in French – until the audience realizes she is controlling the strings by selecting what language to use and manipulating the room into the palm of her hands. And while Sandra may seem relaxed on the surface, Hüller conveys a multitude of emotions just through one look with each unpredictable moment as the character, making her performance all the more towering.
As it currently stands at Gold Derby, Hüller is second in the overall Golden Globe odds at 9/2, tied with Carey Mulligan (“Maestro”) though she has 205 users predicting her for the win, compared to her 148, putting Mulligan in third, respectively. Right behind them in descending order are Greta Lee (“Past Lives”) at 11/2 odds, Annette Bening (“Nyad”) at 13/2, and Cailee Spaeny (“Priscilla”) at 15/2. Hüller’s second placement seems distant to leading contender Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) at 17/5 odds and 1,920 users predicting she will triumph.
But lest we forget, the voting body for the Golden Globes has drastically increased over the last two years, tripling their membership and adding an international voting body. This all but helps Hüller tremendously as she is the leading lady of “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Zone of Interest,” both of which have done very well at the Globes in terms of nominations, getting into Best Film Drama and Best Non-English Language Film, and racking up seven bids combined. Hüller’s varied performances this year in both movies could very well put her over the edge and voters may want to reward her for that, but it should not be undersold that she is giving one of the most complicated performances in the open-ended thriller and a win would very much be warranted.
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