12:6 Caesar’s night… and radical discourse

With 6 Césars, including Best Film and Best Director, La Nuit du 12 largely dominated the prize list at the 48th ceremony held at the Olympia Hall in Paris this Friday, February 24. But behind the glitz and glam is the film, a thriller with a radical discourse that takes a stark look at violence against women.

Adapted from a passage (page 30 of 500) from Pauline Guena’s book 18.3 – per year in PJFirst published in 2021 by Gallimard editions, Dominique Moll’s film asserts realism and gets into the daily life of police officers who investigate a particularly violent death – the victim was burned alive – of a young woman who was not careless and joyous. . This novel soon becomes an obsession for the leader of the group, for whom this murder will remain a wound.

Directed by Bastien Bouillon and Bully Lehners, Dominique Moll’s gritty and fascinating film deconstructs the uncompromising mechanics of femicide. A note that the producers and the director reiterated during Cesar’s evening with powerful speeches that leave no doubt about the social subtext of this detective film.

One death every three days

“It’s an award that worries us deeply, as you can imagine. Two characters in the film share this observation: something is wrong between women and men. It’s not enough. The sick rate of violence against women can be summed up. One sentence: one death every three days and in bad years every In two days, only women know what the violence against them is. When Dominique and Gilles came to us with the desire to make this film, it was clear to us that there was a lack, that the eyes of men were important. We had to give voice to these men and that the filmmakers had to tell this story. Dominique, you gave an interview a few days ago, and you quoted the philosopher Genevieve Freys, who said something that really struck me: It’s that #MeToo has liberated speech, but now it’s about emancipating listening. Dominique’s film, Men Are Listening .They listen to other men who, without realizing it, exude a deep feminine Lure’s flow of expressions; But above all, they listen to women who hold up an uncompromising mirror to them. And I think that if the movie upsets us, that’s why. But that’s also why it comforts us deeply, and why we all needed it so deeply. So I would say cheers to the women and cheers to the men who join their fight. Because we have to fight this battle together.” – Caroline Benjo, producer

His name was Modi

“This may seem a bit anecdotal, but I want to thank the Grenoble PJ investigators who took me on for a week. This immersion course was very important for the accuracy of the film. I wanted to thank them for their appearance. The trust. And I wanted to think about the real Clara, the real case About the victim who made the film. His name was Modi.” – Dominic Mol