starring Léa Drucker
directed by Dominik Moll
115 minutes
in French with English subtitles
Internal Affairs police officer Stéphanie Bertrand (Léa Drucker) investigates a complaint against police officers over an incident that occurred during the yellow vest protests in Paris in December 2018. Twenty-year-old yellow vest protestor Guillaume Girard, sustained serious head trauma. It takes some time to figure out who the police officers in question might be. She narrows it down to four officers from an elite unit who were called in to provide support to the rank and file police officers.
I saw this movie as part of the 2025 European Cinema Showcase at the AFI Silver Theater.
The English title of this film is Case 137 but I think Dossier 137 (the French title) is clear enough that it doesn't really need to be translated.
There were yellow vest protests in Paris during December 2018 but this story is not supposed to be based on any one incident.
This film was nominated for but did not win the Palme d'Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. Léa Drucker is one of the five nominees for Best Actress at the upcoming European Film Awards.
This film has a noir feel to it as the main character is caught between opposing forces, fighting a no win battle. Stéphanie is doomed to fail regardless of the outcome of her investigation. The family of the victim will be satisfied with nothing less than justice. Most of the police officers with whom she interacts, including her ex-husband, expect her to exonerate any and all police officers regardless of the evidence or the flimsy excuses put forth.
It wasn't hard for me to see where the story was going to end so I wasn't surprised by where it ended. I thought the journey there was well worth the time I spent watching the film. This is not a crowd pleaser or an upbeat movie. I'm pretty sure that not everyone will feel the same way that I do about this film.
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