Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: DOSSIER 137 [Cannes Film Festival 2025 - Cannes, France]

The progression of "Dossier 137" [Competition) deals in aspect of perspective and perception. The head of an internal investigations unit in France works on a case during the aftermath of riots on the Champs-Élysées in Paris in 2018. The film itself is based on real events but it is about taking the minutiae of the attack and playing it against the context of logistics, emotion and politics using the same throttle point. Lea Drucker plays Stephanie with an aplomb focus. Her character can handle anything that is thrown at her but she doesn't lose her empathy in the process. Director Dominik Moll understands that Stephanie must exist in a world where both allies and enemies change sides at any given point. Whether trying to helped an embattled mother whose song was assaulted to a husband in the force who sees her as a poison, Stephanie never breaks down but she is also not unfeeling.

Stephanie makes mistakes. One reversal in the office of her boss at the the outset of the film is both heartbreaking but also unbearably strong. She has everyone against her. The cops she is investigating know how to play the game. Nobody is stupid but certain ones give into their baser instincts. The key here is getting the perspective of witnesses beyond simply the security footage. The film examines the toll this takes on all sides but how it simply begins again with this next infraction. The film also handles the internal politics very well without making it seem like a diatribe. Stephanie has her allies also in her investigating circle but they, like everyone, are always listening and learning because agendas lie around every corner. "Dossier 137" knows the story it needs to tell but uses its narrative and intentions in a lean and mean fashion creating a very efficient but crisp tale of conscience. B

By Tim Wassberg