Drama also claims the prizes for best director, best screenwriter and best actress for Sandra Hüller
An arthouse whodunit about sexual jealousy and simmering creative rivalry between two married writers was everyone’s envy at Saturday night’s European Film Awards (EFA) in Berlin, with Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall beating her competitors to take home four of the five major awards.
Centred around a deadly fall from the top floor of a chalet in the French Alps, Triet’s drama scooped the European equivalent of the Oscars’ coveted prizes for best film, best director and best screenwriter, as well as a best actress award for the film’s lead, Sandra Hüller.
German actor Hüller, who had entered the night having also been nominated for her role in Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest, was the other big winner on the night. After winning best actress for cult comedy Toni Erdmann in 2016, the 45-year-old joined Juliette Binoche, Isabelle Huppert, Carmen Maura and Charlotte Rampling in an elite circle of cinematic grand dames to have won the prize more than once.
Hüller, the actor for whom Triet said she had written Anatomy of a Fall, now appears a dead cert for a nomination at next year’s Academy Awards. Asked about her film’s Oscar aspirations, Tried said: “Now we are in the race, of course, we continue down that road.”
During her acceptance speech in Berlin, Hüller appealed to the audience to hold a minute’s silence and “imagine peace”, though she did not specify in which conflict.
Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen won best actor for his role as a commoner turned captain in Nikolaj Arcel’s period drama The Promised Land.
