Night of the 12th in the cinema: an unacceptable thriller about a despicable feminicide

At the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, in the “Cannes Premiere” section The night of the 12th There is a new realization Dominic Mol (Harry, a friend who means well for you, a lemming, only beasts). The filmmaker returns with a visceral and gripping thriller based in part on Pauline Guena’s book 18.3 – A Year in PJs.

This film tells the story of the gruesome and unsolved investigation of the forensic police – the murder of Clara (Lula Cotton-Fraye), a young woman who was burned alive one night – led by Johann.Bastien broth Masterful), supported by Marceau (Bouli Lanners). Johan will be deeply affected by this case and what it reveals about the world around him and the ongoing violence against women.

Dominique Moll, caught up at the Cannes presentation, talks to AlloCiné behind the scenes of the writing and shooting of La Nuit du 12 to discover what’s in cinema now.

AlloCiné: Why is it the story of Clara’s murder in Pauline Guéna’s novel 18.3 – A Year in PJs that resonated with you the most and made you want to make a film?

Dominic Mol: Actually, I had the first click when I read the back cover. This is the excerpt that is the beginning of this investigation and it says “PJ says that each investigator has a story that haunts him, a crime that hurts more than others, etc.” . And it made me want to read the book. And I liked the idea of ​​an investigator obsessed with a case he can’t solve. Of the book’s 500 pages, it’s the last two chapters that really get this idea going.

It’s a police investigation, so it’s an area that’s been heavily marked by television and film, but the peculiarity of the plot of La Nuit du 12 is that we can’t find the culprit. And we’re particularly interested in what this misunderstanding of the investigation does to the investigators in terms of their work, their frustration.

Together with Gilles Marchand, we wanted to question the work of these PJ investigators also through relationships between men and women. It is an all-male environment that tries to catch criminals who are also male-dominated, with crimes often committed against women. Other men’s violence also hints at their own masculinity. Providing that extra layer of readability was important to us.

Was it important to you to show Clara’s violent murder at the beginning of the film? Or are you interested in its relevance?

We made sure with Gilles that we had to show the murder, without being complacent, but it was important to show it. Because it also creates stunning effects and you also need to understand the violence of this crime. There was a debate with the producers who wondered if we would be accused of a certain complacency. But I already knew how I wanted to shoot it, almost in a somewhat abstract way, with very close-ups on very wide shots.

Did you just rely on Pauli Guena’s novel or did you do other research? Did you call PJ’s consultants to spice up the script a bit?

This is an adaptation of the survey described in the last two chapters, but we also drew on all the observations he made elsewhere. For example, the idea that an investigator rides a bicycle to let off steam belongs to another investigator who has nothing to do with the news. We also chose so right, left.

At the time of writing, we were in regular contact with Polina. As soon as we had a question, we called him, and when he didn’t get an answer, he contacted the policeman, whose contact details he had saved while diving. So it was worth it.

But I still felt it wasn’t enough, so I spent a week immersing myself in Grenoble’s PJ with crime brigade investigators. They agreed to give us a very open mind to follow them on their arrests, searches, hearings. And it was important for me to see the dynamics of the group and also the way they were evacuated.

They are still facing some pretty awkward things and they have the pressure of hierarchy and paperwork and they need to evacuate. It is one thing to read or listen to it, but to see and experience it was very valuable. And I also wanted some accuracy, even if it remained fiction.

The case is really very difficult. There is real sensitivity and great sweetness in Johan’s character. Bastien Bouillon is doing a great job, as is Bulli Lehners and the rest of the team. We believe in this group. How did you bring the cast together and ensure that there was that chemistry, that togetherness?

I knew this group dynamic was essential. So with the casting director, we really did a lot of research. We saw the actors individually and then as a group. And so we formed this group with different personalities. So it was a long selection process.

I didn’t want to do reconstruction work, it had to remain a fiction. Out of respect for the people involved or the parents of the victims, the idea was not to copy and paste. Already in Pauline’s book there is something very fictional in the way she deals with issues.

The editing also worked very well with this cyclical rhythm of searching for the suspect, interrogating him, and interrogating the investigator. This idea of ​​going in circles also carries over into the picture with his laps on the velodrome to clear his head. Was it construction from the start?

This construction was in the script. The places of the stages at the velodrome have moved a little. At the very beginning of the film is the first one that was not planned in the script. And then during editing we realized that it was good to start directly with that. This element of the velodrome and the laps of the track may seem a little decorative or anecdotal, but during the editing we realized that it was really very important and necessary. This is a very visual and graphic illustration of his obsession with walking in circles.

And why did you choose to move the action to Grenoble?

The crime that inspired it happened in the Paris region. But I didn’t want to do reconstruction work, it had to remain fiction. Out of respect for the people involved or the parents of the victims, the idea was not to copy and paste. Already in Pauline’s book there is something very fictional in the way she deals with issues. And suddenly we wanted to move the action so that it wasn’t too close.

And then I like the mountain scenery. Morien Valley has something very unique because it is a valley in the mountains. There is something beautiful and majestic and at the same time, it is a very industrial valley. The existence of mountains is both beautiful and oppressive.

The female protagonists are not only stubborn, but intervene at key moments, at turning points, whether during the course of the investigation or informing the investigators who are aware of the very different forces between men and women and the daily violence against them.

The word and role of a woman – whether it’s a best friend, a judge or a young police officer – pushes Johan forward on his journey or in any case suddenly builds things in his head. These poems also question the demeaning and female opinion that questions the lives of women.

Johan is interested in his own functioning. So we felt very quickly that these three women were essential to the development of it, but were also kind of a sounding board in certain scenes and provided an important voice.