Courted review: Coppa Volpi winner Luchini and César winner Knudsen will charm you in this quirky, offbeat court drama.
Following her first day as an alternate juror in a French cour d’assises, anaesthetist Ditte (Sidse Babett Knudsen) describes the judicial experience to her daughter Ann (Eva Lallier) as ‘the theatre’; with an audience and the court ‘its stage’. It is an apt description not only because of the archaic pageantry one associates and witnesses at court but for the way in which writer/director Christian Vincent (Haute Cuisine) delivers Courted’s Shakespearean structure to the audience. It’s a little uptight, evidentially intriguing, occasionally sleep-inducing and at oft times, deprecatingly entertaining.
Set during the course of a three-day trial into the alleged murder of a 7-month old baby, the hearing is presided over by President Michel Racine (Fabrice Luchini); an austere and somewhat demanding judge, universally disliked amongst his peers and lampooned as the ‘ice wind’ and ‘ten-up judge’ (a moniker bestowed for his consistency in stringent sentencing). His demeanour could be explained by his recent divorce and a side effect of the flu he caught and succumbed to on the eve of the trial and not, if the courthouse gossips have you believe, from his late night visit to Saint-Omer’s chemist and local whorehouse.
As the exposition sets up its cast of characters including uncooperative defendant Marcial Beclan (Victor Pontecorvo), Beclan’s suffering and drug-dependant wife Jessica (Miss Ming), assesseurs and a jury made up of randomly selected local citizens, Racine finds himself upended when Ditte – an acquaintance from his past – is selected as an alternate juror. Like Shakespeare’s minor characters, Vincent (who also wrote the screenplay) leaves an air of mystery around the supporting characters; we don’t know much about their background apart from their ‘role’ in this procedural study nor do their subplots lead to any fulfilling conclusions. The dead ends are a little frustrating to be honest as they distract from the burgeoning courtship between Racine and Ditte and the consideration of case facts in Beclan’s trial.
On the upside, cinematographer Laurent Dailland’s muted palette and medium to wide angled shots inside the courtroom highlight the inconsequentiality of the viewing gallery and the film’s audience. Racine, as President, is the only character who is contrastive in colour; the red ceremonial robes reminding you that he is King and you are now in his castle. A formidable and ritualistic place where only a select few are included.
As the proceedings commence and the course of evidence is presented, a humanised Racine emerges from the singularly focussed, red scarfed (a subtle tie-up to his profession), uptight man we spied at the beginning of the film. He respects the power of his position and takes its responsibility seriously, directing jurors on various points of law thoughtfully despite his daydreams of Ditte. Racine even weighs the morality of his ‘unconventional, yet not illegal’ relationship with Ditte when he contacts her and invites her to dinner at a local café.
Their mid-age romance is slow paced; beating at a rhythm that complements the complex nature of the trial before them and of Racine’s tentative steps to put himself out there. Perfectly timed humour lightens the more serious tones of the case. Not one witness calls him by his correct title despite his constant corrections to ‘oui monsieur’, ‘judge’, and ‘your honour’ with ‘President’. Witnesses fight over the layout of their home during testimony and the defendant always forgets to rise when Racine enters the courtroom.
In the words of Hamlet, Courted is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so. For me, I have to admit that I kind of liked the film… a lot. I can’t exactly explain the reasons why, but I did.
It may not have compelling drama or heightened tension to capture your attention but this quirky, slow-burning charmer reels you in just the same and leaves you exiting the cinema just as happy as you were entering it.
Courted review by Sacha Hall, April 2016.
Courted is playing at the 15th Tribeca Film Festival and can be seen on Wednesday, 20 April at 10:00 pm at Bow Tie cinemas, Chelsea and on Friday, 22 April at 3:30pm and Saturday 23 April at 6:15 pm at Regal Cinemas Battery Park.
