Dominik Moll, the Cesar-winning French director whose film “Case 137” world premiered in competition at Cannes on Thursday evening, talked about the timeliness of his movie which tackles police misconduct through the prism of a meticulous investigation.
“Case 137” is set during France’s yellow vests protests and centers on a young man who gets injured by by a flash-ball projectile. Léa Drucker, who is also at Cannes with Laura Wandel’s “Adam’s Sake,” stars in “Case 137” as an investigator in the French IGPN (internal affairs) department who is assigned the task of determining who is responsible for the incident.
Moll started working on the project years ago, during the violent Gilets Jaunes protests that rocked the country in 2018 and 2019 as a vehicle to probe divides in French society. Yet, the film wasn’t meant to be a bombshell political thriller as was Ladj Ly’s “Les Miserables” or Romain Gavras’ “Athena,” to name a couple French movies looking at police brutality.
“I don’t like the idea of a film ‘coup de poing,” said Moll. “What I like to do is try to explain how an institution works.” Speaking of the backdrop of the Gilets Jaunes riots, Moll said “It was a period that eroded political power and led to reactions and overreactions in terms of the deployment of law enforcement. It’s a movement that really exposed the divisions that exist in French society, particularly between the big cities and Paris, and small towns or rural areas where many people feel invisible and ignored, or where public services are declining. It was quite symptomatic of that.”
“Now, it feels like it’s very far away, but these divisions still exist, and it seemed like a good way to talk about them, especially since the Gilets Jaunes movement is now really part of French history. I think it’s important to tackle issues like this,” Moll continued.
The film marks Moll’s follow up to “The Night of the 12th” which charted a police investigation surrounding the gruesome murder of a young woman. The film struck a chord in France and won an impressive six prizes at the Cesar Awards, including best film, director and adapted screenplay for Moll and Gilles Marchand, as well as promising actor for Bastien Bouillon.
Drawing a parallel between the two movies, Moll said “The Night of the 12th” “really made me want to continue my interest in police institutions and how they work.”
“The advantage of police investigations is that you can work on cases from the field, with all the tension and suspense, etc. and you can also slip in other themes,” said Moll. “In ‘The Night of the 12th, it was violence against women. Here, it’s more about police violence during law enforcement operations, but through a police investigation conducted by the IGPN, the police watchdog. That’s what interested me. I felt there was material for fiction in seeing police officers investigating other police officers.”
Caroline Benjo, who produced both “Case 137” and “The Nights of the 12th,” with Carole Scotta at Haut et Court, said both movies are “clearly restorative.” “‘The Night of the 12th’ was “a very harsh film, even a little grim and very graphic, and yet it felt cathartic,” Benjo said. “I feel that with Dominique, the way he invests in spaces (…) which are the grey areas. It’s these grey areas, those of nuance and complexity, that we have completely abandoned, when in reality they are the ones we absolutely must reconnect with,” said the producer.
“Case 137” has been critically lauded with Variety’s review describing it as a “starkly effective” and “riveting police procedural,” and praising Drucker’s “superb” performance as a “dogged inspector investigating an egregious case of riot police misconduct.”
Before its premiere, “Case 137” sparked some headlines after news broke that one of its supporting actors, Theo Navarro-Mussy, had been banned by the Cannes Film Festival organizers from walking the red carpet amid accusations of rape and sexual assault.
“Case 137” is represented internationally by Charades.
