The thriller (with its variations) is a beloved genre of cinema, which has established its figures and archetypes, the cop and the criminal, the judge and the assassin, as well as its historical filmmakers: Jean Renoir, Julien Duvivier, Maurice Tourneur, Henri Georges Clouzot, Georges Franju, Claude Autant-Lara, José Giovanni… Along with comedy, it is the most popular, entertaining, and perhaps the most critical genre of contemporary times, questioning each era, conscientiously.
The crime film widely acclaimed
In recent years, the crime film has seen a true consecration. 2023 stands as a triumphant year. At the César Awards, Dominik Moll scoops up six awards, including Best Film and Best Director, with The Night of the 12th, an investigation into a feminicide in Savoie. Three months later at the Cannes Film Festival, Anatomy of a Fall by Justine Triet wins the Palme d’Or, the start of a long series of accolades for this mountain thriller, shot in the Alps, in Maurienne, earning six César Awards in 2024 including Best Film, also an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
In 2026, the César des Lycéens was presented to Dominik Moll for Dossier 137, after Léa Drucker received the Best Actress César for this film, which competed at the Cannes Film Festival last year, where she portrays an IGPN detective in charge of a case of police violence during a Yellow Vests protest.
A genre in full construction
Dominik Moll is one of the leading filmmakers in current French crime cinema: this author will be the focus during the “Actor’s Section” to be held on Friday, April 3rd by Damien Bonnard at the Reims Polar festival. He starred in 2019 in Only Beasts, a dark rural crime thriller by Moll. In Reims, Thomas Njigol will receive the Claude Chabrol Prize next Thursday for Untamed, selected last year at the Directors’ Fortnight, in Cannes. His first crime film, a genre unexpected for the comedian revealed by the Jamel Comedy Club. “It’s the genre I prefer in cinema, and I watch very few comedies,” he tells us. “It’s paradoxical considering my profession, but I am more inspired by serious stories. Making Untamed, I did not seek to impress as a genre fan. I simply made a sincere film, and the crime genre proved to be the most fitting way to express what I had to say. I took immense pleasure in digging this path, certainly very different from the comedic register I am known for, but I have always defended freedom in all its forms and refused to pigeonhole anyone.”
Thomas Ngijol reflects on a genre in full construction, which also deconstructs the image of Corsica, through an internal perspective. This will be discussed in Reims on Saturday, April 4th, involving several authors of these native dark films, the Corsican directors Julien Colonna (The Kingdom), Frédéric Farrucci (The Night Came, The Mohican), Thierry de Peretti (A Violent Life, In His Image). “Tragedy, more than crime, is probably the common thread in our films,” explains the latter. “This tragedy is linked to a lived reality, not a genre desire, but to tell what we see, live, feel. It’s hard to overlook a contemporary political reality of Corsica, but the intimate questions matter at least as much, if not more than the political ones.”
