THE FILM “Anatomy of a Fall” has brought Justine Triet international fame, winning the French director a number of awards, culminating in an Oscar for best original screenplay.
Triet, 45, stole the show last year when “Anatomy” won top honors at the Cannes Film Festival. He used his acceptance speech to take aim at President Emmanuel Macron’s government.
He accused France, one of the world’s most generous countries towards artists, of moving towards the “commercialization” of the film industry, while also criticizing pension reforms that sparked weeks of protests.
Macron deliberately did not congratulate him on his win at Cannes, and the film was not France’s official choice for the best international film Oscar.
However, Triet became increasingly difficult to ignore, picking up awards around the world for his films, and finishing alongside Martin Scorsese and Christopher Nolan in the race for five Oscars, including best picture and best director.
“This will help me get through a mid-life crisis, I think,” Triet said breathlessly as he accepted his prize with his partner and co-author, Arthur Harari.
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“Anatomy of a Fall,” the story of a woman (Oscar nominee Sandra Hueller) accused of murdering her husband, creates emotion with its subtle take on gender issues.
“I want to change gender norms,” she said in a recent interview.
“As a viewer, I’ve rarely seen many films where a woman is so unapologetic regarding having her own space, not asking permission from her partner to be that way.”
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Previous films by Triet also focused on portraits of women and the relationship between the sexes.
Her debut, “Age of Panic,” mixed gritty relationship comedy with documentary-style shooting during the 2012 French presidential election.
He followed that with 2016’s “Victoria,” a light-hearted romcom starring Virginie Efira that navigated the rough waters of juggling work, love and family life.
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He worked with Efira once more three years later in “Sibyl” regarding a writer who becomes a psychologist.
Not Waiting For #MeToo
“For a very long time when I watched films, I identified myself with male roles,” Triet said, referring to the lack of options for women in the industry when she was younger.
For Triet, who has two children with Harari, her views on gender politics begin at home.
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“I didn’t wait for #MeToo to make sure the people I live with work just as hard to raise the children in our home,” she told AFP in her Paris apartment last year, just before her Cannes success changed her life.
“I set myself up so that I don’t sacrifice my ambitions.”
Born on July 17 1978, Triet grew up in Paris and studied art in the French capital.
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“My mother had quite a complex life, working and raising three children, two of whom were not her own. My father was very absent,” he told AFP.
He left his studies following a few years to dedicate himself to film and made his first documentary in 2007 regarding the student protests that were taking place at that time.
“Justine didn’t work like others. She made filmmaking a collective art form,” says her longtime producer, Marie-Ange Luciani. (AFP/Z-3)
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