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With an A-list cast including Daniel Auteuil (who also directs, produces and co-writes – with some aplomb, it has to be said), a tautly plotted narrative and a sucker-punch ending, this courtroom drama is one of the more accomplished thrillers to be released in recent years.

Some critics have called An Ordinary Case 'plodding' but the often slow pace reflects the measured nature of a forensically examined police case when it gets to court, as well as the manner in which Auteuil’s character becomes gradually absorbed by the circumstances of a tragic murder.

Maître Jean Monier is a world weary barrister who takes a case almost by chance when his lover, also a barrister (played by Danish actress Sidse Babett Knudsen) passes on it. He steps in late one night to represent a suspect, Nicolas Milik (played superbly with just the right amount of ‘did he/didn’t he?’ by Grégory Gadebois) who is accused of killing his wife, the mother to his children.

Milik appears to be the perfectly supportive father to children whose mother is irresponsible and often found drunk on park benches, but is this respectable image of him the full picture?

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The story is based on a novel by the late author Jean-Yves Moyart, a lawyer who became a best-selling author by using his experiences of the French legal system, while the film’s French title, Le fil (The thread) offers a clue to key forensic evidence that will decide Milik’s guilt...

The film is currently awaiting a UK streaming release.

Also out: Anatomy of a Fall 

Another courtroom drama, a multi-award winner, about a woman accused of murder, with the only witness her blind son.

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