Police proceedings don’t usually start by saying the crime at hand isn’t solved. But Dominique Moll’s The Night of the 12th does just that, following a French investigator working hard on a murder case, then reluctantly abandoning it. It’s a refreshingly down-to-earth, deceptively simple portrayal of crime-fighting as false cues, workplace fatigue, and endless woes.
Jolly teen Clara (Lula Cotton Flapia) is about to come home late from a party when she is doused with fuel and set on fire by a hooded stranger. Johann (Bastien Bouillon), the very serious new leader of the judicial police force, questions a series of broad, negative men that Clara may have been involved with, but gets no conclusive answers. do not have. A friend of Clara’s offers her one answer that nicely sums up the misogyny that is subject to such random brutality. because she was a girl.
Suspects appear and disappear. Call audio is analyzed, but to no avail. Years later, a judge takes an interest in a pending case and funds a new oversight. But the expressionless Johann, who seems like one of the good guys, goes in circles and can’t even help his burnt-out partner Marceau (Bouri Lanners).
Despite all the best intentions, sometimes “finding the case” doesn’t happen. And this film (based on the non-fiction book by Pauline Gena) effectively eschews the magical thinking we’ve absorbed from decades of macho crime. Fighting with threads. Rather, it’s a matter of coping with long-term slow-motion frustrations and failures, sadly closer to many common experiences than heroic deeds that saved the day.
night of the 12th
Unrated. Subtitled in French. Running time: 1 hour 55 minutes. at the theater.
