A man falls to his death from a window of his isolated Alpine home, but did he trip, did he jump or was he pushed? There are two witnesses: the man’s son, Daniel (Milo Machado Graner), who is blind and Daniel’s dog Snoop who is, well, a dog — and neither of them were nearby at the time. The only surviving person who can know what really happened is the man’s wife, Sandra (a ferocious and magnetic Sandra Hüller). One year later, she is on trial for his murder.

From this evocative premise there spirals out a drama of increasing psychological complexity. Sandra maintains her innocence and Daniel, already bereaved, has to testify knowing that his words could also deprive him of his mother. But is the trial really for murder or for other unspoken social crimes like being more successful than your spouse, having an unstable marriage or being a less-than-traditional homemaker? Every time the court’s sympathies swing one way, Triet’s fiercely smart movie swings us in another.

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