Dominik Moll’s Case 137, although selected for Cannes Film Festival’s competition, sounded a bit like the kind of film that just hits harder locally. Every country has its own fair share of dirt swept under the rug. Here, it’s all about the aftermath of France’s Yellow Vests protests and a young man who’s seriously – and allegedly – injured by police officers. But it quickly becomes obvious that this local emphasis isn’t the case, however, because a) the Yellow Vest movement was impossible to ignore globally and b) some questions asked here, especially the ones about police brutality, echo all over the world.

There’s one more reason why it should work for a wider audience: it’s very watchable. As to why, that’s difficult to say. The most action-like scenes are mostly recounted, save for a blurry video here and there. It’s a procedural that takes place in ugly rooms with bad lighting or in houses that feel lived in. It’s people sitting in front of Léa Drucker’s internal affairs investigator Stéphanie, lying to her face or begging for justice in the middle of a small-town supermarket. Not exactly crowd-pleasing stuff, but it works so well.

“You know it will change nothing,” says a possible witness (Guslagie Malanda, seen in Saint Omer [+lee también:
crítica
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entrevista: Alice Diop
entrevista: Kayije Kagame
ficha de la película]) after Stéphanie takes it too far, again. Oh, Stéphanie. If the story wasn’t referencing such a specific historical moment, she could easily join the ranks of all those embittered investigators who just don’t know when to stop, who are so good that they piss everyone off and – obviously – must deal with complicated personal issues while they’re at it. It’s fun seeing something so genre-infused occupying such a prestigious slot at the festival. But once she’s done with the red carpet, Stéphanie deserves her own show.

Drucker is an excellent actor, a modest one, and she doesn’t overdo it – only her character does. She doesn’t turn Stéphanie into a cliché, but gives her a heart and – luckily – only one impassioned speech that ultimately isn’t necessary. She’s investigating her colleagues, who already feel underappreciated. She’s “cop-bashing” past heroes, forgetting that people used to applaud them after the Bataclan, it’s argued here. It has got so bad, in fact, that her own son pretends his parents have nothing to do with the institution because “everyone hates the police”. Whatever the outcome of her investigation, she’ll be the villain – either to this boy’s family, if the aggressors walk free, to her own community or even to her ex’s very aggressive new lady friend. No wonder at one point she just watches cat videos. And actually adopts a cat.

There’s humour in Case 137 that comes out of pure desperation. Or the absurd statements that Stéphanie’s listening to, with cops admitting they got their gear “from Decathlon” or claiming a kick – caught on video – is nothing but a gentle nudge. Drucker’s face during these scenes deserves its own special award. Yes, sure, at one point there was an “almost revolution”; now, it’s time to move on – and if you are the one spoiling the fun, or hoping for any kind of closure, you can go back to your cat videos.

In a twist that’s as heartbreaking as it is ironic, given it’s a film that tries to talk about justice or people’s complete indifference to it, one of its supporting players wasn’t allowed to walk the red carpet amid accusations of rape and sexual assault. It’s too early to tell what this kind of gesture can mean, to big festivals or to the whole industry, but that “You know it will change nothing” sounds a tad different because of it. Sometimes change is inevitable, despite all the group efforts to stop it – it just takes a long, long time. Moll might not be convinced it’s the case, but Stéphanie might.

Written by Moll and Gilles Marchand, Case 137 was produced by France’s Haut et Court and co-produced by France 2 Cinéma. It is sold overseas by Charades.