223. The Girl With A Bracelet (La fille au bracelet); movie review

THE GIRL WITH A BRACELET (LA FILLE AU BRACELET)

Cert 15

96 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong sex, sex references, injury detail

"Can you imagine a mother who wouldn't go to her daughter's trial?" mused Mrs W.

This was one of the many questions prompted by Stéphane Demoustier's unusual courtroom drama The Girl With A Bracelet.

But, in common with the others, there isn't an easy answer because we couldn't put ourselves in the position of  Céline (Chiara Mastroianni) or Bruno Bataille (Roschdy Zem).

Their strangely emotionless daughter, Lise (Melissa Guers) is on trial for the murder of her best friend after a house party.

She denies the killing but the circumstantial evidence is overwhelming.

As said, Guers plays Lise with a straight bat from the moment of her arrest which she accepts with scarcely a question.

The film then moves on two years to the court case during which she wears a tag or bracelet to enable her to stay at home after each session.

But Lise's attitude is unchanged - she is matter-of-fact in and out of court, not appearing to grasp the horrible reality of her situation.

One would imagine that her nerves and those of her parents would be frayed but they all seem remarkably calm, adding to the movie's mystery.

It was intriguing to see how the French trial system works with the judge (Pascal Garbarini) leading the questioning rather than being an arbitrator.

Meanwhile, Anaïs Demoustier puts a compelling case as the prosecutor and Annie Mercier is the veteran defence lawyer.

As the trial progresses, surprises emerge, revealing much about Lise's life which had been hitherto kept from her parents.

But do the various parts add up to her being a murderer? She is the only one who really knows the answer.

We were certainly engaged by The Girl With A Bracelet but hugely frustrated by its ending which was way too clever for its own good.

Reasons to watch: Mysterious and alluring

Reasons to avoid: Its frustrating finale

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: Yes

Overall rating: 7/10

Did you know? On  On December 19 1997, after years of parliamentary debates, Law no. 97-1159 introduced electronic monitoring in France as a substitute for incarceration. Legally, these tags are not a criminal sentence but a way of serving a prison sentence either before or after incarceration.

The final word. Stéphane Demoustier: "What I wanted was to reproduce the experience of a trial as I myself had experienced it during trips to the criminal court when there’s no real, conclusive evidence, which is almost always the case." Cine Europa

Share this post