"La Fille au Bracelet" narrates the final phases of a legal process against Lise Bataille, a young teenager accused of murdering her best friend. The director told the story almost like a documentary, and as a person that watched some courtroom recordings of famous cases, I have to say that the movie was realistic and immersed me in the plot. It also explores the relationship between the girl and her parents that need to go through this difficult and long procedure that will consume them, creating tensions between different family members. The psychology of the main character is very well developed, and she was very consistent for the whole length.

I personally think that there were a few scenes that were very boring and were dragged longer than necessary. Even though I was genuinely curious to see how it ended, I think that Stéphane Demoustier and the cast could have done a better job in order to create more tension and keep the audience more engaged. Probably this has to do with the chosen narration style, which wants to emulate as much as possible the reality, however the acting could have been a bit more dramatic and expressive in my humble opinion. If you like European cinema you should definitely give this a shot. It is overall a solid drama with good characters and nice acting.

Somewhere among the end titles we are informed that the script by director Stéphane Demoustier has been "librement adapté du scénario original de Acusada écrit par Gonzalo Tobal and Ulises Porra Guardiola." In fact, this film is a remake of Acusada (The Accused) a 2018 Argentine movie.

The subject in both movies is the trial of the post-adolescent daughter of upper middle class parents as the main suspect in the murder of her best friend. The depiction of the trial, however, is different. In Acusada, the point was to show that truly competent/unscrupulous lawyers (generally, only accessible to the rich) can confuse the issues in a criminal trial, using all means at their disposal including the news media. The resulting uncertainty makes a reasonable verdict unlikely, which brings to mind real life examples such as O. J. Simpson's trial. In this movie. however, lawyers' behavior is unimpeachable and not the source of the uncertainty at the end. Another (minor) difference is that in Acusada the verdict is decided by a panel of judges (as customary in Argentina) rather than by a jury as in France and many other countries. Finally, episodes that were creepy in Acusada are toned down here.

This said this movie (remake or not) deserves a viewing. Lisa, the accused, is played to perfection by Melissa Guers. Except for television interviews this is her only acting credit so far and most likely the beginning of a brilliant career. Roschdy Zem and Chiara Mastroianni show their usual excellence as Lisa's parents, and so does Anaïs Demoustier as the prosecuting attorney. Script and direction are smooth and seamless. The differences with Acusada may justify to tell the story a second time.

Melissa Guers plays the accused Lise Bataille. Roschdy Zem is her distraught dad. Anais Demoustier plays the DA. Her sister directed. Guers' best friend is stabbed 7 times right after she leaves her house. The trial is two years after the murder. A boyfriend of the murdered girl comes across on the stand as a possible suspect. He lies that Guers had frightened the murdered girl. The implicit text shows us that he wanted to date the murdered girl, and that he had probably come back to the house and witnessed Guers and she embracing. Then in a jealous rage he killed her after Guers left. That subtext is there but not explicitly addressed. The main point is the stoic persona of Guers makes her appear guilty. The DA's final statement to the jury is mainly focused on Guers' silences and lack of emotion. The excellent performance from Guers will make her a big star.