Moka

(2016) Moka (In French with English subtitles) PSYCHOLOGICAL DRAMA/ MYSTERY

Adapted from a novel by Tatiana De Rosnay co-written and directed by Frédéric Mermoud that has a mother, Diane Roy (Emmanuelle Devos) going on an odyssey to track and find the one who accidentally killed her only son by hit and run. And after waiting as long as six months and getting nothing from the local police, she does this by employing the services of a private eye. He then informs her that a credible witness bus driver saw a blonde lady behind the wheel along with a small list of 4 vehicles, possibly a brown colored Mercedes. It was not until she goes under a different name, she calls herself Helene meets Michel (David Clavel), his off/on wife, Marlène (Nathalie Baye) and their teenage daughter, Elodie (Diane Rouxel) that she begins to suspect may have something to do with it. Along the way, she also meets. Vincent (Olivier Chantreau) who manages to find her a firearm just in case something bad happens.

The movie cuts to the chase that already showcases the mothers heartache losing her only child that led to her separation of her husband, and her suffering from insomnia of guilt that gives this movie some authenticity.

Bearing more than a distant resemblance to Claude Chabrol's "Que La Bete Meure "(1969)since the basic scheme is virtually the same :the investigation to find the car, a despicable person (David Clavel)playing more or less the part of Jean Yanne, a teenager who is not a happy person ,in search of an identity ( a daughter replacing the son) , a first suspect (Nathalie Baye in the role of Caroline Cellier)who reveals herself a nice woman ;both movies end ,once the storm had died down, with a piece of classical movie.

It must be admitted Frederic Mermoud's suffers in these comparisons: the screenplay cannot match Gegauff/Chabrol's terrifying tale,based on a Nicholas Blake's novel ,and the director can't begin to touch the famous late master's brilliance ,when he was at the height of his career ,in the late sixties/early seventies.

His movie drags on and is saved by its actresses :both Emmanuelle Devos and mainly ,mainly Nathalie Baye give faultless performances .Baye ,now a sixty-something ,is like a good wine :she improves with time and she is as attractive as in the eighties ;but I must agree with the precedent user ,a French cinema connoisseur: "La Volante",also a variation on the hit-and-run subject ,was much more exciting.But the Devos/Baye invisible feud is worth the price of admission and the ending is deeply moving and shows us ,in our trouble time ,that forgiveness can bring peace of mind.

As it has already been told above, the scheme here is very close to another movie released last year at the nearly same time: LA VOLANTE, also starring Nathalie Baye, where she played the character, at least an equivalent of Emmanuelle Devos' one here. But the character she offered last year was a victim, whose the son was killed by a hit and run driver and a desperate mother who became herself a murderer, a cold blooded killer. Unlike here where Emmanuelle Devos remains human; and that makes it a drama. Yes this movie I am talking about today remains a drama more than a crime film. I preferred LA VOLANTE. But both actresses, Nathalie Baye and Emmanuelle Devos are convincing enough to keep you entertained.But nothing special besides this.

Lake Lehman and the surrounding mountains are an extremely suitable landscape for the genre of psychological thrillers. The calm and glacial beauty of the places always seems to hide a threatening subtext, just as the impeccable politeness of the locals is too perfect not to suspect smoldering and strong dramas, or conflicts well-buried under the Swiss cleanliness, punctuality and civility. To the well-stocked list of thriller films that successfully use this background I can now add 'Moka', a film released in 2016, which can be described as a psychological drama with nuances of thriller and detective story, based on a novel written by the successful writer Tatiana De Rosnay and directed by Frédéric Mermoud.

The story of the film takes place on the shores of Lake Lehman. Diane (Emmanuelle Devos) lives in Lausanne, on the Swiss shore of the lake. She lost her teenage son a few months ago in an accident involving a vintage car with a French plate and an unusual mocha color. A private detective provides her with information that four cars corresponding to the description exist in Evian, on the opposite French shore. Diane will cross the lake in search of those responsible for the accident. The search leads after a while to a couple that corresponds to all suspicions, in whose life our hesitant heroine will infiltrate. The reasons for her actions are unclear, at least at first. Distrust of the police? The need of revenge? The desire to get closer, over death, to the son whose life she begins to learn more about only after he has disappeared? The motto of the film is 'what would you have done in her place?' The answer is not simple.

'Moka' offers quite a lot of reasons of satisfaction, first of all through the excellent acting of Emmanuelle Devos, an actress that I like enormously, who lives here intensely the role of the grieving and confused mother, who can not find here peace until the truth about the death of her son comes to light. The secondary romantic threads (the relationship with the husband from whom she is separated, the fling with the younger man met on the boat crossing the lake) find their rightful place in the action and add a new dimension to the woman's portrait. Nathalie Baye takes the role of the woman suspected of being involved in the fatal accident. She's OK, not more. The drama of the confrontation between the two women becomes more important than whosdunit intrigue. Questions about finding the mental balance after such immense trauma, the need for punishment and justification of revenge take precedence. If I had anything to reproach to director Frédéric Mermoud that would be the too clean, too ... Swiss approach of his directing of the whole story. Relying on excellent acting and on the cold beauty of the landscapes, it seems to me that he misses the opportunity to add a personal touch. Anyway, we are left with a good film, a psychological thriller and a very well told and excellently played post-traumatic drama, which is worth its watching time.

Essentially a gender-switched remake of Claude Chabrol's 1970 film "This Man Must Die", "Moka" is probably close to most people's idea of what a Swiss thriller would be like: set right at the French-Swiss border, and frequently crossing over between the two countries (the landscapes are beautiful), it is a calm, cold, cerebral revenge tale, and certainly far removed from the conventional Hollywood treatment of similar stories; the focus is not so much on the revenge itself as it is on the need for communication and redemption. Fine performances by Emmanuelle Devos and Nathalie Baye. **1/2 out of 4.