Feared judge Michel Racine is extremely strict in all aspects of his life until he meets a beautiful juror who will judge a man accused of murder. Six years earlier, Racine had loved her. Almost secretly. She is perhaps the only woman he has ever loved.
The measured interaction of Luchini and Knudsen is a pleasure, with his querulous intelligence and her considered energy creating a dynamic that speaks to their character's quietly held desires.
At its heart this is a study of how people caught up in the legal process must navigate the formalities while retaining hope and humanity. To that end, the everyday details are deftly observed and the performances, exemplary.
Love affairs and literature. Rom-com and courtroom drama. The mix isn't really promising, but Christian Vincent manages to make a good marriage out of them. [Full Review in Spanish]
Vincent has a gift for notching up comic detail in the margins: the flu-ridden judge being injected by his doctor in the buttock; his insistence on the proper courtroom terms of address.
