[CRITICAL] MOCHA

The novels of Tatiana de Rosnay definitely the coast from developers : after Boomerang released last year, the Spiral and The Neighbor currently shooting, today is MOCHA , which is adapted to the screen.

Second feature film by Frédéric Mermoud, MOCHA was to the latter the opportunity to re-light his “muse” Emmanuelle Devos, that he had particularly liked heading into Accomplices. The character that she played here again in search of the truth but this time, unofficially, starting with the search for the hit and that gave death to his son before fleeing behind the wheel of a car mocha color… reflections solitary in unexpected encounters, the filmmaker invites us to follow the inner journey of this woman on the path of grief, from desire of vengeance to the acceptance of the unacceptable. In spite of a lack of credibility in places, Frédéric Mermoud manages to maintain a voltage related to the inquiry and eliciting a strong empathy for its characters, wonderfully interpreted.

First of all, MOCHA is the story of a woman – Diane (Emmanuelle Devos) who decides to get out of the state of amazement into which she was thrust when her young son died, hit by a car whose driver has still not been identified. Unable to accept this painful reality, she decides to leave alone conduct the investigation, from Lausanne to Evian on the footsteps of the woman who was driving the Mercedes mocha. Driven by an understandable desire for revenge, which she hopes to take a form of appeasement, it is finally in front of it-even that Diane is going to face : his fears, his demons, his will, his determination but also with his humanity. It is precisely this inner journey is interesting in MOCHA, beyond the one that leads to the guilty party.

Indeed, what captivates is the arc of evolution of the character played by Emmanuelle Devos. What moves it is the mixture of strength and sensitivity that reveals Diane when she gets to know that which would have killed his son, and which he is preparing to destroy the life. Between vengeance dream and the reality, the human pops up and takes you by surprise. The incarnation of the guilty by an endearing person (Marlène – Nathalie Baye) complicates matters, désarçonne, sows doubt and leads us to question the “after” up here carefully ignored. What to do with the truth ? The pain of the loss of a child will she be attenuated by the knowledge his murderer in prison ? The absence will it be more bearable ? The consciousness will find it’s rest ? Maybe this the answers to these questions that Diane seeks finally to through this quest and that will allow him to pass through a stage of the grieving process : acceptance, leading eventually to a reconstruction progressive.

“More interesting from a psychological point of view of the plot police, the main force of Mocha, though, is the incredible duel and duet that formed on the screen Emmanuelle Devos and Nathalie Baye. “

If the psychological treatment of the drama is quite well mastered by Frédéric Mermoud, we can’t say the same for the “stalking” of the guilty. In fact, an obvious lack of precision or rigour leads to different errors of connection and fulfillment in a whole, which undermine the credibility of the investigation : the spinning mills are coarse, the coincidences and sequences sometimes improbable or too easy. It is a bit of a shame, because the substantive work is relevant and offers in addition an atmosphere that is both melancholic and poetic power which is not uninteresting.

In the end, MOKA is still a film taking and moving but more interesting from the psychological point of view than the police story. His main strength, though, is the incredible duel and duet that formed on the screen Emmanuelle Devos and Nathalie Baye who deliver, as usual, benefits that compete with talent, precision, and charisma, giving MOKA an intensity that makes it worthy of interest through portraits of beautiful women.

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