An investigator from the Grenoble judicial police is haunted by the sordid murder of a young girl. Although the interrogations are linked, as well as the suspects, the absence of evidence means that the case always comes back to square one. The only certainty lies in the fact that the crime took place on the night of 12…
Even before a single image appears, we are warned that the case we are about to echo in The night of 12 will not be resolved. By bringing to the screen one of the stories contained in 18.3: one year at the PJ, a book in which the author Pauline Guéna recounted her observations after spending an entire year with investigators from the judicial police, Dominik Moll was bold. The one who has already given us Harry, a friend who wishes you well And only beasts warns the spectator from the outset that his new film will be held as close as possible to reality, without carrying with it all the imagination that is usually associated with the genre of police drama. This time, we will never know who committed the crime. Nor why.
The night of 12 no less fascinating. The screenplay, which Moll wrote with Gilles Marchand, his lifelong accomplice, focuses on describing how a case that turns out to be unsolvable can affect investigators responsible for collecting evidence. Along the way, the story not only addresses the frustrations that can undermine individuals from within, but also, more broadly, very contemporary themes.
With the murder being a feminicide (a young woman was set on fire on her way home from a party), questions arise about violence against women, as well as their fate within of a justice system predominantly made up of men. Moll does not take a militant and denunciatory approach here, but he nevertheless exposes this inescapable reality in the treatment of an investigation. In this case, we inevitably add a moral aspect to the case by trying to find out what the victim’s way of life was, particularly on the sentimental and sexual level.
With constant rigor, Dominik Moll keeps his story under tension — although the outcome is known from the start — while nevertheless adopting a very spare approach, devoid of any dramatic effect. When a policeman freezes in front of the mother of the victim, to whom he must announce the tragedy, we reach here shocking accents of truth with, however, a great economy of means. All the actors deliver excellent performances, in particular Bastien Bouillon, Bouli Lanners and Anouk Grinberg. In the role of an examining magistrate collecting the confidences of the investigator, the latter is remarkable.
Winner of seven César trophies, including those awarded to the best film and the best director, The night of 12launched at the Cannes Film Festival last year, is now playing in Quebec.
Indoors
Police drama
The night of 12
Dominik Moll
With Bastien Bouillon, Bouli Lanners, Anouk Grinberg
1:54 a.m.