Luke McWilliams gives his review of the 2022 thriller film, The Night of the 12th (M), starring Bastien Bouillon and Lula Cotton-Frapier.

After onscreen text explains that the story is one of 160 unsolved murder investigations that take place every year in France, a Grenoble Criminal Squad celebrates their outgoing Captain and welcomes incoming Captain Yohan Vivès (Bastien Bouillon). Soon, the young, beautiful, and popular Clara (Lula Cotton-Frapier) is seemingly senselessly murdered, and the new Captain is on the case with his all-male squad.

While the movie is frustratingly less of a whodunnit and more of a procedural, Captain Vivès leads his team forward in the methodical and meticulous steps required for a solid murder investigation. Struggling to understand the motive of the would-be killer, the team is hampered by their limited perspectives, concentrating on the many varied relationships that Clara held that may have sparked a vengeful male to murder.

Like Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series, the movie explores the latent misogyny in contemporary society, with cues from the past; Clara’s murder resembles how women accused of witchcraft were once dealt with. It is posited that Clara’s murder could be any male that knew of her, and the police struggle with the deficits of their own characters that are brought to light in response. While Captain Vivès literally races his bicycle in circles on a velodrome track, haunted by the unsolved murder, hope is introduced by way of a female judge who champions the case, and that of a female investigator new to the squad.

Verdict: An authentic and subtle procedural drama that makes a grim but important commentary on the relationship between men and women and how to go forward. 3 stars.

Luke McWilliams | themovieclub.net