The Girl with a Bracelet (2019)

A teenager stands trial for murdering her best friend.

Director:

Stéphane Demoustier

Writers:

Stéphane Demoustier (screenplay), Ulises Porra (based on the script of Acusada by)

Stars:

Roschdy Zem, Chiara Mastroianni, Melissa Guers

2 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Roschdy Zem	...	Bruno Bataille
Chiara Mastroianni	...	Céline Bataille
Melissa Guers	...	Lise Bataille
Anaïs Demoustier	...	L'avocat général
Annie Mercier	...	L'avocate de Lise
Pascal Garbarini	...	Le Président du tribunal (as Pascal-Pierre Garbarini)
Paul Aïssaoui-Cuvelier	...	Jules
Carlo Ferrante	...	L'avocat des parties civiles
Anne Paulicevich	...	Mme Dufour, la mère de Flora
Victoria Jadot	...	Noémie Rigaud
Mikaël Halimi	...	Nathan
Léo Moreau	...	Diego
Xavier Maly	...	Le légiste
Vincent Colombe	...	L'expert ADN
Philippe Rolland	...	L'expert couteau

Storyline

It begins as an ordinary family outing on the beach. Then things turn dark as 17-year-old Lise, from a wealthy middle-class family, comes under investigation following the death of her best friend. As her parents (Chiara Mastroianni and Roschdy Zem) deal with the trauma in different ways, Lise is required to account for a way of life that doesn't always fit the morality approved of by the justice system. This third feature by writer-director Stéphane Demoustier is a razor-sharp judicial drama and a superb cast includes Anaïs Demoustier, on top form as an implacable prosecuting counsel. And as Lise, newcomer Melissa Guers offers a mesmerizing performance as the young woman whose very self is the mystery under investigation.

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Plot Keywords:

court room | coming of age | trial | murder | writer director | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

PG-13

Did You Know?

Trivia

The story is based on the fictional script of the Argentinian movie The Accused (2018).

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Connections

Remake of The Accused (2018)

User Reviews

more than a courtroom drama

The French court drama 'La fille au bracelet' (the English title is 'The Girl with a Bracelet') made in 2019 by Stéphane Demoustier starts from a situation that is one of the nightmares of any parent. How do a couple of parents face the fact that their daughter, just out of adolescence, is accused of a horrible crime, the murder of her best friend? Can family, marriage hold? Can parents cope with doubts about their daughter's possible guilt and remorses over the fact that from one point on they can no longer protect her in the face of the justice machine? 'La fille au bracelet' which adapts and relocates an Argentine film (which I have not seen) treats this topic with discretion and sensitivity.

The opening scene of the film looks like a copy of the scene that opens the Romanian film ' Arest' by Andrei Cohn that I saw recently. The scene takes place on a beach, is filmed from afar in one shot. A family spends a quiet afternoon by the sea. The police appear, snatching one of the people from normal life in order to throw her into a completely different reality, in prison. From here on the two films are different. The arrested person is Lise, a 16-year-old teenager ( Melissa Guers), the daughter of a middle-class couple (Roschdy Zem, Chiara Mastroianni). The family's life turns into a Kafka-esque nightmare, being confronted with the girl's pre-trial detention for six months followed by a legal procedure that after two years leads to the trial in which Lise is accused of murder. Most of the film takes place in the courtroom. However, more questions about the morality of the accused seem to be put before the court than evidence to prove guilt. The girl's lack of communication does not help her face the accusator, the judge and the jurors. Is this the natural shock that a teenager torn from normal life and thrown into legal proceedings under a terrible accusation goes through, or maybe it is a proof of guilt? Doubts sneak even into the minds of the parents.

I liked the approach of director Stéphane Demoustier. He films the court scenes as a TV broadcast, a neutral-style justice drama. Even the scenes that take place between the parents, or between the parents, the girl and her brother are devoid of sentimentality and do not give explicit answers to all the questions. Precisely due to the director's objectivity, the spectators, like the jurors of the trial, can form their own opinions. Perhaps the lawyer's plea contains the key to watching the film: how much do we understand, parents and grown-up people, of the problems and feelings of young people, how much do we remember and how much did we forget about how we were at their age? Minimalism also characterises the way actors are directed. Melissa Guers as Lisa makes an exceptional debut which is hopefully the beginning of a formidable career. Roschdy Zem and Chiara Mastroianni are very well cast in the roles of parents, reserved and keeping their troubles inside. Anaïs Demoustier (the director's sister) also appears in this film in a very different role from the one in 'Alice et le maire' in which I liked her enormously. I even wondered while watching what the heroine there would have thought about this prosecutor who seems to be trying to convict a young woman of murder without concrete evidence, practically asking the accused to prove her innocence instead of her, the prosecutor proving the guilt beyond of any doubt, as required by the laws of justice. 'La fille au bracelet' is the kind of movie that is sometimes said to resemble a long episode of a TV series. In this case, however, it is much more, it is a court drama with a story and characters that accompany the viewers long after the screening of the film is over.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

France Belgium

Language:

French

Release Date:

19 June 2020 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Girl with a Bracelet

Filming Locations:

Palais de justice, Nantes, Loire-Atlantique, France

Box Office

Budget:

EUR3,300,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,535,002

Company Credits

Production Co:

Petit Film, France 3 Cinéma, Frakas Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1