This year’s Best Director lineup is filled with familiar names for cinephiles: Martin Scorsese and Alexander Payne are old pros at this point, Bradley Cooper has long been famous as an actor, and Jonathan Glazer — despite only making four films — has been a known quantity since 2000’s “Sexy Beast.” That just makes it all the more impressive that in this (very male) lineup, Justine Triet not only made it into the category, but was nominated with a film that stands shoulder-to-shoulder with her heavyweight competitors’ works.
Although Triet made her feature debut “Age of Panic” in 2013, it took her a decade to obtain her true breakout moment when her fourth feature “Anatomy of a Fall” premiered at Cannes Film Festival in 2023. Starring a never-better Sandra Hüller as a successful writer who is tried for the sudden death of her husband, a fellow creative, the film is a marital drama in the guise of a courtroom thriller, using the setup to explore the tension and pain that a union between two creatives can cause. (For some interesting parallels between fiction and real life, Triet wrote the movie with her husband, fellow director Arthur Harari, who unlike the husband figure in “Anatomy of a Fall” has not fallen out of a window listening to a steel drum cover of “P.I.M.P.” by 50 Cent.) The film became one of the most acclaimed out of the festival lineup, and Triet won the Palme d’Or at the closing ceremony — making her the third woman to receive the prestigious honor ever.
Triet was fairly well known in France before “Anatomy of a Fall;” her sophomore film “In Bed With Victoria” received four nominations at the Cesar Awards. But the Palme d’Or win made her considerably better known to American cinephiles, and “Anatomy of a Fall” is competing against buzzy American titles as one of the biggest Oscar contenders this year. In addition to Triet’s Best Director nomination, the film nabbed four other nods, including Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Editing.
Looking back at Triet’s other films, it’s clear that exploring women’s relationships with sex, love, and work is where her passion lies. Her first feature “Age of Panic” is a comedy about a reporter who struggles to balance commitments to her ex-husband, her kids, and her job covering the French presidential election. Triet’s sophomore film, “In Bed With Victoria,” focuses on a career-minded lawyer with a sex addiction juggling two love interests and a bitter ex. Given Triet’s interest in dissecting relationship drama in her own work, it’s no surprise that many of her favorite films are intimate movies about marriage and relationships. In interviews, she’s named Ingmar Bergman’s “Scenes From a Marriage” — perhaps the ultimate film portrayal of a troubled romantic relationship — as a key influence, and has sung the praises of David Fincher’s romantic thriller “Gone Girl.” Other films Triet has repeatedly recommended include James L. Brooks’ Oscar winner “Terms of Endearment” and the films of French black comedy visionary Sacha Guitry.
In celebration of Triet’s Oscar nomination, IndieWire dove into the films that inspired the “Anatomy of a Fall” director. Films listed here are culled from interviews Triet has given over the years, and are listed in no particular order. Read on for 10 films Justine Triet has championed as her favorites.
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“Terms of Endearment” (dir. James L. Brooks, 1983)
Image Credit: ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection In 2016, to promote her sophomore feature “Victoria,” Triet shared a list of five of her favorite films for the publication Le Cinéma Club. One of the movies she chose was James L. Brooks’ Oscar-winning “Terms of Endearment.” Based on a novel by Larry McMurtry, the film centers on 30 years in the life of a mother (Shirley MacLaine) and daughter (Debra Winger).
“I love the movies of James L. Brooks because he risks showing cruel characters, capable of horrible things, while making them worthy of our sympathy,” Triet said about the film.
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“Désiré” (dir. Sacha Guitry, 1937)
Image Credit: Criterion Collection One of Triet’s favorite directors is Sacha Guitry, a French filmmaker active from the ’30s to the ’50s and most known for making pitch-black comedies. In her Le Cinéma Club interview, Triet listed Guitry’s 1937 film “Désiré” as one of her favorite movies. The director cast himself as the title character, a valet who unwittingly stirs up jealousy between the actress he works for and her possessive husband.
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“Project Nim” (dir. James Marsh, 2011)
Image Credit: IMDB The 2011 documentary “Project Nim” focuses on the case of the titular chimpanzee, who was raised like a human child from the 1970s onward to study the effects on his development. Triet listed the movie as one of her favorites in her Le Cinéma Club interview.
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“Confidentially Yours” (dir. François Truffaut, 1983)
Image Credit: ©United Artists/Courtesy Everett Collection The final film of director François Truffaut, comedic mystery “Confidentially Yours” stars Jean-Louis Trintignant as an estate agent suspected of murdering his wife and her lover, and Fanny Ardant as his secretary investigating the crime. In her Le Cinéma Club top five, Triet admitted that the comedy was: “The only film by Truffaut that I like. But this one I love!”
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“Gone Girl” (dir. David Fincher, 2014)
Image Credit: 20th Century Fox Licensing/Merchandising / Everett Collection Triet’s dive into marital discontent with “Anatomy of a Fall” explores some similar ground to David Fincher’s “Gone Girl,” so it’s fitting that the director’s adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s novel is one of Triet’s favorites. In her Le Cinéma Club interview from 2016, Triet called the movie — starring Ben Affleck as a man whose wife (Rosamund Pike) suddenly goes missing — “the best film I’ve seen in theaters in the past two years.”
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“The Mother and the Whore” (dir. Jean Eustache, 1973)
Image Credit: Mubi In 2023, after her Palme d’Or win for “Anatomy of a Fall,” Triet spoke to A.Frame — an official publication of the Academy — about five films that inspired her throughout her career. One of the choices was Jean Eustache’s first feature “The Mother and the Whore,” about a man and two women in a tumultuous love triangle. Triet credited seeing the film with inspiring her to pursue filmmaking.
“I remember exactly where I was when I saw the movie, and I was not the same person after. I was totally awoken. Like, ‘I want to do that.’ Because for me, it was a new world, a new way of talking, a new way of doing things, a new way of spending time in life,” Triet said. “And after that, I spoke like the whore. I was obsessed by her. I had the same expression. It was literally like it was printed on myself.”
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“Scenes From a Marriage” (dir. Ingmar Bergman, 1973)
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Ingmar Bergman’s miniseries “Scenes From A Marriage” is one of the ultimate stories about a toxic relationship in the film medium’s history, following Erland Josephson and Liv Ullmann’s characters through their relationship’s painful dissolution. In her A.Frame interview, Triet said that although she believes the film’s portrayal of the gulf between men and women is “outdated,” the reversals in the central relationship inspired her work.
“What I was most attracted to or impressed by is the constant reversal of roles that goes on, where in the beginning we might feel that things are one way — where maybe she is a duped woman, a woman that’s been cheated on and completely under his spell — and then the dynamics of that are constantly being reorganized,” Triet said. “The other thing from this film, which left an impact on me, is the language as these arguments evolve in intensity.”
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“Shampoo” (dir. Hal Ashby, 1975)
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Hal Ashby’s “Shampoo” is a satirical comedy starring Warren Beatty as a promiscuous hairdresser whose womanizing lifestyle begins causing consequences both professional and personal. Speaking about the movie with A.Frame, Triet revealed she was interested in potentially remaking it at some point during her career.
“That movie is perfection for me. Because I’m obsessed with hair and it’s all about hair, and I like that he puts the hair and the stories of life on the same level,” Triet said. “It’s perfect. I would love to make a remake of that movie one day.”
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“Toni Erdmann” (dir. Maren Ade, 2016)
Image Credit: ©Sony Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection Before her Oscar nomination for “Anatomy of a Fall,” Sandra Hüller broke through in “Toni Erdmann,” a 2016 comedy about a hard-working career woman whose life turns to chaos when she reconnects with her estranged father. Speaking about the film that shares her leading lady to A.Frame, Triet praised director Maren Ade as “brilliant.”
“I was so moved by the movie, and I really like the way Maren Ade directed all the actors. She does a lot more takes than me, so I’m very impressed,” Triet said. “As a director, she’s so brilliant and intelligent for me. She’s perfect. I am very excited to see her next movie.”
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“Petite Maman” (dir. Céline Sciamma, 2021)
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection In 2023, during the release of “Anatomy of a Fall,” Triet made a Criterion Closet video discussing some of her favorite films released by the home video company. In the video, she selected Céline Sciamma’s acclaimed 2021 film “Petite Maman,” about a young girl who discovers a way to travel between time periods and meets her mother as a child. Triet revealed a personal connection behind why she loves the film.
“My daughter is totally obsessed with this movie. She loves it so much,” Triet said in the video.
