Il Sole 24 Ore weekend

Weekend films

'Case 137', a French detective story not to be missed

The new feature film by Dominik Moll, a German director naturalised in France, starring a very good Léa Drucker, is now in cinemas

by Andrea Chimento

17 April 2026

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

When the police start investigating... themselves: this is "Case 137", a powerful polar (the typically French genre that combines the detective story with noir) signed by Dominik Moll, a German director naturalised French who 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.

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.

The dramaturgical strength of the character of Stéphanie, a single mother, who tries to do the right thing in a context where nobody hopes 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 mise-en-scene, 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 words that are impossible to forget at the end of the credits.

“Il caso 137” e gli altri film della settimana
Photogallery4 foto

Our role as spectators

The first major element that jumps out at you when watching this film is undoubtedly the strength of the screenplay, not only in the writing of the characters, but also in the dialogue, which is extremely incisive and punchy and touches on themes that combine individual moral reflections with universal reasoning with a purely political flavour.

A great deal of 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 images of witnessing very serious events in a matter of moments. It is also for this reason that it is one of the most urgent and topical feature films among those released in our cinemas in these early months of 2026.

Also noteworthy is the remarkable work of the entire cast, but a very special mention undoubtedly goes to the leading lady Léa Drucker in one of the most important roles of her entire career.

The Crime of the 3rd Floor

French cinema is really the star of the week in cinemas thanks to the release of 'The Crime of the 3rd Floor', a new film by Rémi Bezançon starring Gilles Lelouche and Laetitia Casta.

The film tells the story of Anna, a university professor with a passion for Hitchcock, and Pierre, her husband, a famous thriller writer now trapped in routine.

They live in an elegant bourgeois building, their days punctuated by manuscripts to be corrected, words to be polished and increasingly heavy silences. Everything changes when, from the windows of their flat, they begin to observe their new neighbours across the courtyard. It is a restless, nervous couple, on the verge of exploding. What starts as a harmless voyeuristic game soon turns into an obsession. A sudden disappearance, a blood-stained watch, noises in the middle of the night and strange objects seem to indicate that a crime has taken place in the flat next door.

Needless to say, Hitchcock is not only a fan of the female character, but also a real reference ('Rear Window', of course) for this entertaining film, which lacks great originality but has a lively flair and an effective rhythm for its entire duration.

Between irony and mystery, 'The Murder on the 3rd Floor' is thus a smooth-running film, without any great flourishes, but nevertheless capable of doing its duty well and achieving its goals.