4 stars out of 5
When I’ve been in a steady art-movie groove, I have had a reliable pleasure: French thrillers. They’re generally a notch above Hollywood thrillers, or at least the cool accents and unfamiliar settings make them seem that way. But the pandemic has been particularly hard on art-house theaters, with their audiences apparently unwilling to return in big numbers for the cinema experience. Many such theaters have closed. Locally, I’m so thankful that the Clairidge in Montclair, New Jersey, reopened under new management, but to survive, some screens are now devoted to mainstream releases. The overall result, nationwide, is fewer screens for truly independent film. And of course, fewer French thrillers for me.
So I was quite glad to see The Night of the 12th listed at the Clairidge. I was immediately transported from north Jersey to southeastern France, the city of Grenoble, where the longtime police captain has retired and been replaced by loyal detective Yohan. Early in his new tenure, a young woman named Clara is murdered in a nearby suburb, and the investigation begins.
For about the first 45 minutes, this plays out in interesting but not particularly unique procedural fashion: leads, suspects, questioning. The environs keep things fresh, as we’re at the foot of a French Alps ski resort in the off-season; one scene takes place at a bowling alley up the hill. And Yohan blows off steam by cycling at night around a Velodrome. This ain’t Blue Bloods.
As the story goes on, it becomes more and more compelling, challenging gender assumptions about the victim and about members of the police force, who are extremely bro-y with each other. Clara had many dates and sexual partners; are the detectives blaming the victim’s murder on her lifestyle? I was glad to see that one of the three screenwriters was female (Pauline Guéna), adding that perspective especially as — after a time jump — we now have a female member of the detective squad and, importantly, a female judge who takes a fresh look at the case.
Aside from gender issues, director/co-writer Dominik Moll also clearly gives us two characters at different ends of their careers. Yohan (Bastien Bouillon) has a friendly face, and a thorough, by-the-book manner, but is clearly getting frustrated as the case remains unsolved. Veteran detective Marceau (Bouli Lanners), meanwhile, is gruff and can no longer keep his emotions in check as his personal life begins to overwhelm his professional one.
I found the film quite satisfying, and much more nuanced than your average thriller. Even if you don’t like foreign movies, you may want to dip a toe in, as overseas offerings might be all that’s left if the writers’ strike drags on.
Jack Silbert, curator