An Ordinary Case

Jean Monier, a criminal lawyer, gave up criminal work years ago after a man he got acquitted killed again. He comes back when the file of Nicolas Milik, accused of murdering his wife, reaches him. Milik has five children, is chaotic and likeable, and it is easy to believe he is innocent. Daniel Auteuil directs, co-writes and plays Monier, entering the official selection as a director for the first time. Grégory Gadebois plays Milik. The source is not a novel. It is Au guet-apens by the criminal lawyer Jean-Yves Moyart, a chronicle assembled from the ordinary days of the job. It was shot at the courthouse in Draguignan, which is why the courtroom sections do not look like a set. The real subject is not whether the accused is innocent but the lawyer's need to believe he is. Auteuil stages the defence not as performance but as a man negotiating with his own conscience. It was presented as a special screening at Cannes in 2024 and opened in France on 11 September that year. It runs 115 minutes. Who it is for: viewers who like courtroom drama and French legal cinema. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a thriller with a twist. It moves almost entirely through talk and takes its final turn without any display.