THE STORY – When a young man is injured by a flash-ball projectile during the yellow vests protests, Stéphanie Bertrand, an investigator with the IGPN, is tasked with determining responsibility.
THE CAST – Léa Drucker, Jonathan Turnbull, Mathilde Roehrich, Guslagie Malanda, Stanislas Merhar, Sandra Colombo, Valentin Campagne, Mathilde Riu, Côme Péronnet, Solàn Machado-Graner, Théo Costa-Marini, Théo Navarro-Mussy & Florence Viala
THE TEAM – Dominik Moll (Director/Writer) & Gilles Marchand (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 115 Minutes
Stéphanie Bertrand (Léa Drucker) used to work with her husband as a narcotics cop but moved to a position with the IGPN, the police who investigate the police, in order to have more regular work hours for their son. Stéphanie and her colleagues across the country are having a rough go of it with the 2018 “yellow vest protests” that began in November of 2018. Now divorced, Stéphanie is overwhelmed with her caseload, but one particular case captures her attention above all others: The case of one Guillaume Girard (Côme Péronnet), a young man who sustained a skull fracture that impaired his ability to speak. Guillaume came to the protests in Paris from Saint-Dizier, Stéphanie’s hometown, with his mother (Sandra Colombo) and sister (Mathilde Riu), as well as his sister’s boyfriend, Rémi (Valentin Campagne), to protest for public services. The men and women got separated from each other after dark, after which Rémi says Guillaume was shot in the head by plainclothes cops with a flashball weapon, unprovoked. As Stéphanie conducts her investigation, she becomes more and more convinced that Rémi is telling the truth about what happened, but will she be able to find the smoking gun she needs to get Guillaume the justice he deserves?
Dominik Moll’s “Case 137” is a fairly standard police procedural, but its timely discussion of police ethics, no-frills style, and white-hot righteous fury make it a welcome entry in the genre. People across the globe are upset with the state of modern policing. The disproportionate violence against protestors, open corruption, and lack of accountability for those who break the law are just a few of the things that have gotten world citizens up in arms in recent years, and France is no exception. As Stéphanie investigates Guillaume’s case, she learns that on the night in question, teams from units without experience in crowd control were called upon to “protect the Republic” and thrown into the eye of the storm without proper gear or training. Finding the squad that crossed paths with Guillaume and Rémi is hard enough, but even when she does, all of them claim not to remember shooting anyone in the face. It would seem at this point that “Case 137” is little more than an exercise in copaganda, both-sidesing the situation because so many police officers were in over their heads that night. But Moll has more up his sleeve, as Stéphanie refuses to let the case go and finds a hotel cleaning lady (Guslagie Malanda) with a video of the incident.
This is the point at which “Case 137,” which has until now been a deliberately paced but slick mainstream thriller, earns its place In Competition at the Cannes Film Festival, as it openly and plainly calls out the systemic racism, complacency, and hypocrisy at the heart of the police department. Stéphanie tails the cleaning lady to her home, pleading with her for the video, but is rebuffed because of how badly the police have lost the trust of the people they are meant to protect. Even though it’s clear that Stéphanie herself has good intentions, it’s the larger police department that the woman with the video doesn’t trust because of what she has seen them get away with on a daily basis. From this point on, Moll keeps raising the pressure until everything explodes at the end, a face-off between Stéphanie and her boss at the IGPN that may be blunt but feels cathartic because of it.
Wisely, Drucker opts to rein herself in for the character’s biggest moments, keeping her voice soft and steady even as she’s boiling over with passion. Her interrogation scenes are riveting because of how matter-of-fact she plays them; Stéphanie knows that she holds all the cards, and she knows exactly how to guide her subject toward the conclusion she wants. Credit must be paid to Moll and Gilles Marchand’s screenplay for its cleverness on this front, but Drucker’s weaponization of a professional demeanor to mask the dogged hunter Stéphanie actually makes the scenes even more entertaining to watch. Drucker keeps Stéphanie’s emotions tightly in check at all times, so much so that a massive breakdown is inevitable. When that point comes, Drucker takes the road less traveled, letting out everything that’s been building up within her over the course of the film in a surprising way that reveals much about Stéphanie’s character.
While the film’s aesthetic can read as more televisual than cinematic, Moll exerts great control over the film’s images and tone, keeping things as tightly wound as possible to ensure maximum tension throughout. Even though there’s nothing in the way of formal daring, the film’s solid craft keeps things moving at a decent pace, giving the film’s philosophical arguments room to breathe. The lack of excessive style keeps the audience’s focus exactly where it’s supposed to be at all times: on the police department and how it is failing in its mission to protect and serve. Moll’s aesthetic for “Case 137” may be no-frills, but his powerful argument about the state of modern policing comes through loud and clear.
