Le procès Goldman

We enjoyed this trial film. The trial of Mr. Goldman, a left-wing revolutionary, who finds himself accused of murder, which he denies. The film's interest lies in this character, who doesn't deny some of his misdeeds, who refuses to be defended because he is innocent (according to him) of the murder of which he is accused. The film is in Arieh Worthalter's formidable work, in this character who possesses certain endearing characteristics. The film is also in his responses to the prosecutor's attacks, but also in his relationship with his lawyer and his lawyer's pleadings. The result is a film we can follow from start to finish, thanks to these formidable actors, as well as to the rather subtle screenplay, which manages to create a story by stringing together scenes of court pleadings that at first glance may look the same, but each time the information helps to clarify the character. Cédric Kahn constantly avoids the jurors' point of view, even during their deliberations.

The decision not to use music makes the actors' interpretations even more powerful, and forces viewers to concentrate on the characters at all times. Monsieur Goldman is an astonishing character, unsympathetic according to the thinking of the time (the 70s in France), but with enough elements to make him interesting today.

I am not familiar with the case of Pierre Goldman but the movie is a good legal drama where emotions and dialogue are tense and engaging including great performances, atmosphere, and direction from Cédric Kahn. Kahn approaches the movie with a blend of drama and documentary style together which helps create the realistic setting and setting of the characters and event. The camerawork of 1:33:1 aspect ratio helps create an isolated feeling for the characters and the production is pretty good, while at times a bit cheap.

All of the performances were really good with Arieh Worthalter standing out with strong emotions and dialogue throughout. As well with the rest of the performances from the cast. The narrative is interesting with interesting themes and ideas explored, but it does prevent the movie from being excellent as some of the writing and narrative choices were a bit too thin and is the typical standard structure.

Throughout, the dialogue is well-written with a few being a bit too cartoonish, there are some pretty good balanced humor, and the pacing is tense. Despite some flaws, it is a good courtroom movie.

This film takes its audience back to the 70s and the political struggles that took place in the aftermath of the 1968's revolution in France.

As a young man accused of a double murder and numerous hold-ups, Pierre Goldman is depicted as a terrorist, radicalised by his communists parents (jews from Poland who left the pogroms back in the 20's) and by the people he met "along the way" in Poland, Cuba and Venezuela. As stubborn as impulsive, he seems to hold a grudge against the whole world, the cops and the heirs of aristocracy above all.

Will this be a enough to declare this man guilty of a murder ?

Will the French society of the seventies will decide to bury the values of the revolution of 1968 with this trial ?

Is he the scapegoat that everyone was expecting to blame the 68 revolution or a dangerous murderer ?

The fantastic adaptation of this trial will give some anwers for sure on that matter.

Beyond the suspense concerning the character, this film is to me a fantastic depiction of the French society of the 70's with the opposition betweeen conservatism ( those who clearly lean right and who are represented by DeGaule's supporters very keen to defend patriarchy and old bourgeois way of life) and some revolutionary's aspirations of the lefties (inspired by French intellectuals like Simone DeBeauvoir or other communists's supporters also present in the court).

Tensions, and moral values will pull their weight in this trial . The main character interpreted by Arieh Worthalter who definitely deserves an award for his performance (he finally got the Cesar) as well as the other actors (the lawyers, the witnesses, attorneys and prosecutor) are just perfect in the way they express themselves, in the tension and the moral stake they put in the middle of the room. The whole trial looks perfectly genuine and it's highly interesting to see what was at stake morally speaking back in those days.

In Europe, the 1970's are years of rebellion, violences and massive opposition between liberalism and communism. It is this struggle of ideas that is portrayed in this film.

A fantastic adaptation and reproduction of a trial that most of us have forgotten but that could have changed France for good.

This is a well done and credible courtroom drama, showing the 1976 trial against Pierre Goldman in an apparently very authentic way. This was a re-trial after Goldman had earlier been accused and convicted of several armed robberies and two murders. He had admitted the robberies but insisted on his innocence regarding the murders. Being a Jew and political activist from the extreme left with a problematic life before the events in question, he felt (probably rightly so) that the earlier trials were biased against him. The re-trial was apparently very prominent in France at the time.

The major attraction here is Arieh Worthalter's stunning performance as Pierre Goldman. I have read that he was generally seen as an unpleasant character, and I see why that is, but I actually ended up liking him a lot. In the very beginning he insists that the trial should focus on what actually happened in order to show his innocence rather than focus on his character and personal history. Proceedings would not totally follow his advice here but at least to some extent. Although it probably wasn't meant like that, I read this also as a critical comment on "The Anatomy of a Fall", another French drama with a heavy courtroom presence, in which I found the court's fixation on the character of the suspect rather silly, to the extent that it made me worry about the French justice system. Not so much here.

Most other acting is fine, too. That said, the film is rather one-dimensional, showing the court proceedings and pretty much nothing else. We learn something about the political climate and background, but overall the focus is "will he be acquitted of the murders or not", and maybe also whether there is manipulation against him going on. He has both support and haters in the audience who often makes itself heard. It annoyed me to some extent that not the full width of the screen was used, apparently for artistic reasons!? So the entertainment value is somewhat below "The Anatomy of a Fall" although the court is more credible. It is a good film though, between 7 and 8 stars.

From france! Arieh worthalter is pierre goldman, a man accused of several robberies and violent crimes against pharmacists in france. While in prison, he wrote a book. Later, his verdict is suspended, and referred to be retried in 1976. But goldman doesn't want to call witnesses, or friends on behalf of his character. He simply states that he is innocent. Will that be enough to exonerate him? Part of his defense is that he was a jew, trying to discover his own family history. Will that be enough? About an hour in to the re-trial, it devolves into a shouting match. The defendant just starts calling everyone racist, and the spectators start repeating it. Why they didn't clear the courtroom is beyond me. Good drama, i guess. An interesting case, for sure. We do find out the results of the trial. Very interesting to watch. For more details, please refer to wikipedia dot org. The family had specific objections to this version of the story. Directed by cédric kahn. He has won numerous film fest awards. Mostly well done.