Rating: 4/5
Sandra’s son, Daniel, goes on a walk with his dog Snoop. As he leaves, he hears Sandra and his father, Samuel, talking. When he comes back from his walk, he discovers his father dead in front of the house, bleeding from a head wound.
The movie watches the events afterward, including the trial, to determine if Sandra is the cause of Samuel’s death.
The movie mimics patterns from true crime movies and TV — a shaking, uncertain camera trying to capture everything, reenactments of events and conversations by the characters, and all of the media speculation surrounding it.
Being a French production, you know it’ll be ambiguous about some aspects of the story. I won’t say or hint at which. I will say that the movie is a rollercoaster.
And that’s both its biggest strength and flaw. On the one hand, by performing these patterns, we get pulled into the drama of it. But by heightening everything, it feels manipulative, regardless of intent.
I compared it in my head with Saint-Omer, a similar movie but done with so much more subtlety and grace that this felt borderline hammy by comparison.
I still think it’s a terrific script. The film has outstanding performances, including the best dog actor I’ve seen.
Watch it so we can talk about it! I have theories!
As an aside, I want to mention how thrilled I was when I saw Jehnny Beth’s name in the opening credits. I’m a fan of her band, Savages, and she had a radio show on Apple Music called Start Making Sense that I think about at least once a week. I knew she acted, but this was my first time seeing her in anything. It was just cool seeing her in a movie.