Cannes Film Festival

'Dossier 137', a detective story with all the trappings

In competition is the new feature film by Dominik Moll, a German director naturalised in France, starring a very good Léa Drucker

16 May 2025

2' min read

When the police investigate... itself: this is what "Dossier 137" is about, a powerful polar (the typically French genre that combines the detective story with noir) signed by Dominik Moll, undoubtedly one of the most significant titles presented in competition in this first week of the Cannes Film Festival.

The protagonist is Stéphanie, an IGPN investigator, who will be confronted with a case that is only apparently very simple to solve. During the yellow waistcoat protests, a young man is seriously injured and the investigation will uncover truths kept hidden by some members of the police force.

A German director naturalised as a French citizen, Dominik Moll had already shown his talent in the genre with the previous 'The Night of 12', another black feature film in which the police were called to investigate the terrifying murder of a girl who had been set on fire.

There are many connections with that film, which is even surpassed by this new film that has its greatest strength in the screenplay: it is not only the writing of the characters, but it is precisely the dialogues that are extremely incisive and punchy, capable of touching on themes that combine individual moral reflections with universal reasoning with a purely political flavour.

Great attention is also given to surveillance videos and even to our role as 'spectators' on social networks, where we go from superficial and goliardic clips to possible witness images of very serious events in a matter of moments.

The character of Léa Drucker

The dramaturgical strength of the character of Stéphanie, a single mother, who tries to do the right thing in a context where nobody has any hope that justice can really be done, is very striking.

Moll succeeds in never being rhetorical and, on the contrary, gives life to an essential and very dry staging, where every word and every gesture is in the right place, from the first sequence to the concluding glance in the car in which we hear the words of the real victim of the whole affair.

The work of the cast is remarkable, but a very special mention goes to the lead actress Léa Drucker, who is already a credible candidate for the Best Actress award, but who knows, maybe even the film will be able to carve out a nice place for itself in the final awards.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning

While several committed titles appeared in competition (from Sergei Loznitsa's 'Two Prosecutors' to Mascha Schilinski's 'Sound of Falling'), the scope of the content of 'The Final Reckoning', the latest chapter in the 'Mission: Impossible' saga, should not be underestimated.

Presented out of competition, the film talks about the global crisis and artificial intelligence with good courage, and although it initially struggles to get going, it manages to become increasingly engaging as the minutes go by.

Particularly noteworthy is a long and beautiful completely silent sequence inside a submerged submarine, but there are several moments to remember from this successful blockbuster. We will come back to it soon: the film will be released on 22 May in Italian cinemas.