Cedric Kahn explores the life and trial of Pierre Goldman in a tense courtroom drama
By James Verniere/Boston Movie News
Award-winning French director Cédric Kahn (“Red Lights,” “A Better Life”) takes on a true story in the acclaimed courtroom drama “The Goldman Case.” Based on the story of Pierre Goldman, a fiercely stubborn and intelligent incarcerated man, a self-described “Jew and a leftist,” who fell into a life of crime and has been convicted of four armed robberies, one of which resulted in the shooting deaths of two Paris pharmacists in 1970 in the Marais neighborhood. Goldman has admitted to three of the robberies but not the one that involved the murders. Set in 1976, after Goldman has won a new trial by writing a best-selling memoir, the film, which Kahn and Nathalie Hertzberg scripted, starts awkwardly with captions and a scene in which two lawyers read letters to one another.
After that, all of the action takes place inside a Paris courtroom. Imagine Sidney Lumet’s prophetic 1982 drama “The Verdict” without any of the scenes of Paul Newman sleuthing outside the courtroom, investigating the case he makes against a hospital owned by Boston’s Catholic Church. The effect is confining. But Patrick Ghiringhelli’s camera discovers a world in that space.
For those unfamiliar with the French cour d’assises system, often observed in films such as the recent, brilliant “Anatomy of a Fall,” some details (three judges, nine jurors) might be confusing. But Kahn carefully examines Goldman’s background as a post-WWII Jew in France and keeps all the facts of the case clear. Standing (or I should say seated in the raised dock) above the action is the performance of Cesar Award-winning leading man Arieh Worthalter (“The Take”). Ferocious, angry, bizarrely self-righteous, Goldman snarls at the judges and police and those in the courtroom calling for his head (literally since murderers were still guillotined in France in the 1970s). Born in 1944 in Lyon, Goldman is the son of Polish Jews, both heroic Resistance fighters. His Communist mother was deported from France. Goldman was raised by his father and later a loving stepmother. He studied at the Sorbonne and was hospitalized for depression and given electroshock therapy. As an adult, he traveled to South America and socialized with revolutionaries. Back in Paris, he frequented Caribbean restaurants and clubs, where he met his companion Christiane (Chloe Lecerf). Goldman is being held at Fresnes Prison, south of Paris. He is a criminal, no doubt, but he is adamant that he is innocent of the murders. His legal team is headed by fellow French Jew Kiejman (Arthur Harari) and includes the older lawyer Bartoli (Christian Mazzuchini). In his letter from the opening asking Kiejman to excuse himself from the case, Goldman refers to an angry Kiejman as “an armchair Jew.” Also in the courtroom are pen-grasping members of the press furiously scribbling in their notebooks and many loud, young, rebellious fans and supporters of Goldman. Also present are police officers, there to testify against him.
At a time when the world is judging Israel for its actions in Gaza, filmmaker Kahn spins a complex, psychological tale in which our origins determine who we are and what we do. Goldman’s origins—including his childhood visits to his radical mother in Poland—are complex indeed. We are asked to discern the line between “partisan” and “gangster.” Goldman claims that Jews and Black people in France are “the same.” He scandalously declares that the French police are racist and have used trickery to make him appear guilty, even though they know their evidence is flawed.
Perhaps because director Kahn is also an actor, the cast of “The Goldman Case” is superb. Among the standouts beside Worthalter, whose career deserves a big boost, is Nicolas Briancon as the bloodthirsty, silver-haired prosecutor Maitre Garaud, who is determined to see Goldman get the maximum penalty. In smaller roles, Laetitia Masson and Maxime Tshibangu are also stunning.
‘The Goldman Case’
Rating: Not rated (In French with English subtitles)
Cast: Arieh Worthalter, Arthur Harari, Chloe Lecerf
Director: Cédric Kahn
Writer: Kahn, Nathalie Hertzberg
Running time: 115 minutes
Where to watch: Coolidge Corner Theater
Grade: A-
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