Following endless interrogations, a police investigator becomes obsessed with solving the gruesome murder of a young woman that occurred on the night of the 12th. A film by Dominik Moll, starring Bastien Bouillon, Bouli Lanners, Théo Cholbi, Johann Dionnet, Thibaut Evrard, Nicolas Jouhet, Lula Cotton-Frapier, Julien Frison, Baptiste Perais, Jules Porier, Nathanaël Beausivoir, Pauline Serieys, and Anouk Grinberg.

A mystery thriller film based on true story from “18.3 Une année à la PJ” (18.3 A Year With the Crime Squad), a documentary book by French author Pauline Guéna, first published in 2020.

Chaque année, la police judiciaire ouvre plus de 800 enquêtes pour homicide. Près de vingt pour cent d’entre elles restent irrésolues. Ce film raconte l’une de ces enquêtes.

Every year, the French police starts more than 800 murder investigations. Nearly 20 percent remain unsolved. The story takes place on the night of 12 October 2016. At the Grenoble police headquarters, a group of police officers are celebrating the retirement party of their current captain, Tourancheau (Nicolas Jouhet). Yohan Vivès (Bastien Bouillon), a young detective, is promoted to replace him.

In a small town, a young woman named Clara (Lula Cotton-Frapier) is seen leaving her friend’s house. As she walks back home on an empty road in the middle of the night, she uses her phone to record a video message for her friend Stéphanie Béguin(Pauline Serieys), unaware that it would be her last. A mysterious hooded assailant emerges from the shadows and confronts her. The assailant douses her with a flammable liquid before setting her ablaze.

A local resident reports Clara’s body to the police the following morning. Yohan drives Marceau (Bouli Lanners) and the newly recruited, Boris (Julien Frison) to the crime scene. Although the local police should be in charge of this case, the prosecutor has personally requested that the Grenoble police lead the investigation.

The forensic team is unable to identify the body from any of the personal effects found on it. Suddenly, the phone found in the victim’s pocket starts to ring. Yohan answers the phone and discovers that the phone belongs to Clara Royer.

Marceau believes that the assailant must have known the victim intimately. All of the male investigators on the case agree to rule out women as suspects and focus their investigation on men, as violent crimes of this magnitude are typically committed by men. Setting someone on fire requires premeditation, unlike stabbing or strangling. However, this film is not just about the investigation of a gruesome murder case; it also provides us with a glimpse into the personal lives of police detectives and how the case affects them. Marceau is getting a divorce after his wife became pregnant with another man.

The prime suspect is Clara’s former boyfriend, Wesley Fontana (Baptiste Perais), who works at the bowling alley in La Toussuire. However, it is revealed that he had a girlfriend while he was dating Clara, and his girlfriend confirms his alibi for the night of the 12th. The investigators also discover that Clara had a sexual relationship with Jules Leroy (Jules Porier), a boy she met at the climbing gym.

As the investigators delve deeper into Clara’s personal life, they uncover more plausible suspects. Yohan inquires Clara’s best friend, Stéphanie, if she was aware of Clara’s multiple relationships. Stéphanie reveals that Clara had a tendency to fall in love too easily with bad boys. She tells him about Gabi Lacazette (Nathanaël Beausivoir), an aspiring rapper, who wrote a song about setting her on fire after discovering that she was unfaithful to him.

The police investigators follow multiple leads down an endless rabbit hole, but they soon realize that none of them can produce any concrete evidence that can identify the real assailant. This case has become one of the unsolved murder cases that has haunted Yohan’s mind for many years.

The film raises a subtle question without providing an answer: why are most perpetrators men, and why are men the ones who typically solve these cases? The cast delivers outstanding performances, taking the audience on an unsettling journey that they must experience firsthand. If you are looking for a whodunit-style detective film, you will likely be disappointed.

LA NUIT DU 12 premiered at Festival de Cannes on 20 May 2022. The film was theatrically released in France on 13 July. It also had a limited theatrical release in the United States on 19 May, under its official English title, THE NIGHT of the 12th, distributed by Film Movement.

LA NUIT DU 12 received ten nominations at César du cinéma, and won in six categories, including Best film (Meilleur film), Best Director (Meilleure réalisation — Dominik Moll), Best Adapted Screenplay (Meilleure adaptation), Best Supporting Actor (Meilleur acteur dans un second rôle — Bouli Lanners), Most Promising Actor (Meilleur espoir masculin — Bastien Bouillon) and Best Sound (Meilleur son — François Maurel, Olivier Mortier & Luc Thomas)

César du cinéma (César Award) is the national film award of France. It is delivered in the Nuit des César ceremony and was first awarded in 1976. The nominations are selected by the members of twelve categories of filmmaking professionals and supported by the French Ministry of Culture.