A Noite do Dia 12

On the surface "La nuit du 12" is a raw, powerful police drama, but it's layered with many social topics that give it a special kind of depth. Although constantly focused on the main case (shocking and inexplicable by the way - the stuff that "real horror" is made of) the movie manages to raise some fundamental debates about human behavior, love, fear, marriage, domestic abuse, sense of duty, etc.

To me it feels kind of like "Roubaix, une lumière", but keeping a more general or "abstract" approach.

Based on a real case and the experiences of the French judicial police, the movie is raised to another level by some stellar performances from basically the entire cast, a very solid experience that leaves a mark on the viewer. Highly recommended!

A life is cruelly taken in the night, no opportunity to run, to flee, to flight, doused in something that is lit, the flames engulf, force to submit, while the killer watches on, they lose their fight. The police investigate, pursue their leads, turns out there's many might have done the evil deed, but the evidence is weak, no matter where or how they seek, the perpetrator's not been caught and remains free.

The frustrations of the police investigating the brutal murder of Clara are brought to light as they struggle to track down her killer. It's an engaging enough piece of filmmaking but I thought it just ran out of steam towards the end and you're left just as dissatisfied as the investigating officers at the conclusion.

We have a typical murder mystery underway but leads run cold and so does the story.

Instead of taking the story up and into new directions or at least with some progression, it becomes bogged down in it's own meandering pacing. It's as though the film dies halfway through.

What's really irksome is that modern American moralizing has now reached Europe. What the entertainment consistently fails to address is that on average, 70% of homicide victims are male.

One character says, 'There is something wrong between men and women.' No, there is something wrong with lazy, uneducated scriptwriters who tell stories based on impressions and clichés rather than doing any simple research into crime statistics.

It continues on throughout the second half of the film, which is the same area where the pacing becomes overly sluggish. The 'messaging' overrides the story and the journey of the characters. Very disappointing.

Europe has largely avoided American style clichés, but this is not a good sign. Please be more original. Black Box was an excellent recent French film, as an example. Europeans have long done their own thing. May it continue. Please.

In its bones, this is a police procedural of a pretty classic sort, albeit with an overlay of social awareness, But it's done with enough style and restraint to make it a very satisfying example of the genre, in an excellent French tradition that goes back to Quai des Orfèvres and the outstanding 2005 film Le Petit lieutenant, to name just those. It involves a group of cops from the Grenoble branch of France's Police judiciaire, the equivalent of the criminal-investigation side of the FBI (vs. The latter's national-security functions, which are handled elsewhere). The P. J. takes over from the local police or (in this case) the gendarmerie, in really tough and complex investigations, as it does in the real-life murder case that is re-enacted here. Operating in tandem with an investigating magistrate, it has, as is demonstrated here, awesome investigative powers.

Not that they are of much use in this frustrating case, where, as the chief investigator points out, any of a whole range of suspects could easily have been the murderer of an attractive, charismatic young woman as she returns home on foot from an evening with her pals, even though there's no convincing evidence against any of them. It's no spoiler to say that the case, which eats away at the investigators, remains unsolved -- we're told this before the film even starts. So there are no triumphs of police work, and all seeming breakthroughs lead nowhere, all of which gives the film unusual texture. The agents are smart, determined, well-trained, and sensitive, and the film is as much about how they deal (not always well) with the limitations they come up against as it is about the more explicit, and perhaps overemphasized, theme of male abuse of women.

Some of the usual tropes of the genre are present. There are tensions within a group of policemen (the one woman appears later, to welcome effect) of contrasting personalities, with arguments over procedure and over basic philosophies, and there's a digression into the marital difficulties of one of them, Marceau, played powerfully by the Belgian actor Bouli Lanners. All this is handled with uncommon deftness and understatement. Add to this the spectacular mountain scenery of the Grenoble area, and La nuit du 12 drew me in and held me.

Much of the film is carried on the shoulders of the strikingly youthful lead investigator, Capitaine Yohann Vivès, played very convincingly by relative newcomer Bastien Bouillon, for whom I hope this will be a breakthrough. Both the character and the actor himself are given tough assignments. In the actor's case, the screenplay calls for him to communicate via long silences, during which he is required to react through only the subtlest shifts of expression, something he does remarkably well. He's also very convincing in his handling of the smart, slangy dialogue that the excellent screenplay assigns to him. Not all the sharp wordplay can make it into the subtitles, but the laughter around me this evening made it seem like not that much is lost, either.

So: La Nuit du 12 may not be a great classic for the ages, but, for its thoughtfulness, its wit and sincerity, and some very fine acting by all concerned, it is a very satisfying entertainment.

On the surface, this French Best Picture Cesar Award winner appears to be a straight police procedural about a case of a young woman brutally killed on her way home from a girl's night out. Dominik Moll's (WITH A FRIEND LIKE HARRY) adaption of Pauline Guera's non-fiction book about a true case changes the setting from Paris to Grenoble in the French Alps (Gilles Marchand collaborated with Moll on the script). Taking the story out of the hustle and bustle of the big city gives the movie more of an intimate flavor.

The two main cops on the case are a crusty older policeman Marceau (Bouli Lanners) and the younger new head of the squad, Yohan (Bastien Bouillon). The murder victim, Clara (Lula Cotton-Frapier), at first seems like a typical 21 year old - happy and well-liked. As the investigation continues they discover that she had a series of risky encounters with various guys. As more and more men are revealed, the more vexing the case becomes for instead of narrowing the potential pool of suspects, it widens them.

The frustration makes Marceau increasingly edgy. He is going through his own relationship issues and tarts to crack, lashing out at the potential killers. Yohan on the other hand, becomes more introspective, more intense. While many in the department and the public begin pointing the finger at the victim, Clara, Yohan feels more and more protective of the dead woman. It all increases his obsession with the case - and Clara's memory and reputation.

The decision to move the location to a smaller town is a wise one. Not only does it allow a more personal touch, it virtually eliminates the notion that it was some random killing as you would have in a metropolis like Paris. Everybody knows everyone in the area, but they seem oblivious about what secrets are happening all around them. Lanners and Bouillon are very good, as is Pauline Sereiys as Clara's best friend. Later on, two strong women characters, a Judge (Anouk Grinberg) and a fellow police officer (Mouna Soualem) enter the investigation and buttress Yohan's compulsion for the case.

NIGHT OF THE 12TH is a strong and disturbing drama. It may not satisfy those who want easy answers, but it realistically shows the frustrations inherent in police work and reality that justice isn't a guarantee for all.