Legal Thrillers to Watch

The legal thriller has accustomed us to a memorable formula: a heroic lawyer, a clear division between good and evil, and a cathartic courtroom victory that restores moral order. These are the canonical masterpieces that defined the genre, and you will find them here. But auteur cinema uses the same stage for radically different purposes. It doesn’t just seek to find the truth, but to question its very existence. The courtroom is no longer a temple of justice, but an arena where narratives clash, power manifests, and truth becomes an elusive, subjective, often unattainable concept.

This curated journey explores the entire spectrum of the genre. It is a path that unites the pillars… from the most famous arthouse films to the most unknown independent cinema. We will cross international borders to discover how directors from France to Iran, from Argentina to India, use procedural drama as a sharp tool for cultural and political critique. The courtroom becomes a microcosm of a nation’s soul, a place where its contradictions, its laws, and its historical wounds are dissected.

Prepare for a broad and sophisticated definition of “legal thriller.” Our selection includes works that hybridize the thriller genre with horror, black comedy, and social realism, using the structure of an investigation or a trial to explore human dilemmas that extend far beyond the courthouse walls. This is not a simple list, but an invitation to explore films that challenge, provoke, and remain etched in the mind long after the credits roll.

⚖️ Reasonable Doubt: The New Legal Thrillers

Anatomy of a Fall (2023)

Sandra, a German writer, lives in a secluded chalet in the French Alps with her husband Samuel and their visually impaired son Daniel. When Samuel is found dead in the snow after falling from the attic, a murder investigation begins. Sandra is indicted, and the ensuing trial is not just about establishing guilt or innocence, but becomes a brutal public vivisection of their marriage, their sexual and professional frustrations. Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes and the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, Justine Triet’s film is the absolute masterpiece of the contemporary legal thriller. There are no Hollywood twists, only the slow and painful erosion of truth. The courtroom is a place where reality is linguistically manipulated and where a son is forced to morally judge his mother to survive the pain.

Juror #2 (2024)

Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult), an upstanding family man, is selected as a juror in a high-profile murder trial. As he listens to the details of the case, he realizes with horror that he was the one who accidentally caused the victim’s death in a car accident months earlier, which he mistook for hitting an animal. Justin faces an impossible moral dilemma: manipulate the jury to save himself or reveal the truth and go to prison, leaving his family behind. Clint Eastwood, at the venerable age of 94, signs a taut and classic moral thriller. The film flips the perspective of the 12 Angry Men genre: here, the protagonist does not seek justice, but seeks to hide his guilt through the mechanisms of justice itself. It is a quiet investigation into conscience and the imperfection of the human legal system.

The Goldman Case (Le Procès Goldman) (2023)

France, 1976. Pierre Goldman, a far-left intellectual, is on trial for the murder of two pharmacists during a robbery. Goldman admits to the robberies but vehemently denies the murders. The film reconstructs the trial that divided France, with Goldman turning the courtroom into a political stage, attacking the police, the judges, and even his own lawyer, refusing to be defended according to the rules of the “bourgeois theater.” Cédric Kahn directs a pure, claustrophobic courtroom drama, devoid of flashbacks or music. Everything plays out on words, rage, and the chaotic charisma of the defendant (an incredible Arieh Worthalter). The film shows how a trial can become the symbol of an era and of never-dormant racial and political tensions. It is incandescent cinema of speech, where judicial truth seems impossible to grasp.

Red Rooms (Les Chambres Rouges) (2023)

Kelly-Anne is a model obsessed with the high-profile trial of Ludovic Chevalier, a man accused of torturing and killing three underage girls via livestream on the dark web (“Red Rooms”). Kelly-Anne sleeps on the street to secure a seat in the courtroom every day. But her interest is not morbid or journalistic; she seems to be looking for something specific, a missing piece of evidence, moving with unsettling competence in the encrypted digital world. This Canadian thriller by Pascal Plante is an icy and disturbing work. We never see the violence of the crimes, but we feel it through the courtroom descriptions and the audience’s reactions. The film investigates the phenomenon of serial killer “groupies” and technological horror. It is an atypical legal thriller, where the investigation happens behind a screen and the true mystery is not the defendant’s guilt, but the inscrutable psyche of the protagonist watching him.

Saint Omer (2022)

Rama, a novelist, attends the trial of Laurence Coly, a young woman accused of killing her 15-month-old daughter by abandoning her on a beach at high tide. Rama intends to use the story to write a modern retelling of the Medea myth. But as the trial progresses, Rama’s certainties crumble: the defendant’s story resonates disturbingly with her own pregnancy and past. Alice Diop, a documentarian making her fiction debut, creates a hypnotic and statuesque film. The camera remains fixed on faces, capturing every micro-expression. It is not a film that seeks legal plot twists, but one that uses legal language to explore the invisibility of Black women, the trauma of motherhood, and the ancestral bond between mothers and daughters. A devastating intellectual and emotional experience, awarded at Venice.

A Normal Family (2023)

Jae-wan is a successful lawyer who defends wealthy criminals without moral qualms. His younger brother, Jae-gyu, is an honest and compassionate pediatrician. Their lives and values collide when they discover, via surveillance camera footage, that their teenage children are involved in a horrific crime against a homeless man. The two brothers find themselves swapping their ethical roles in an attempt to manage the legal and moral situation. Directed by Korean master Hur Jin-ho, this film is an adaptation of the novel The Dinner (already brought to cinema, but here revisited as a legal thriller). The tension is palpable: we are not in a public court, but in the private “court” of the family, where the law is bent to protect one’s own blood. It is a fierce critique of bourgeois hypocrisy and the concept of justice when it touches one’s own privileges.

⚖️ Beyond the Verdict: The Ramifications of Justice

The Legal Thriller is a battlefield where the word is the deadliest weapon. But the search for truth does not end at the courthouse benches. It often begins at the crime scene, digs into real biographies, or explodes into heartbreaking family dramas. If you want to follow the thread of justice (or injustice) through other genres, here is where to continue the investigation.

Crime Movies

Before the lawyer delivers their closing argument, there is a detective gathering evidence or a criminal trying to cover it up. If you are fascinated by the investigative phase, the manhunt, and the tension of the street before that of the courtroom, this is the section for you.

👉 GO TO THE LIST: Crime Movies

True Story Movies

Erin Brockovich, Spotlight, Dark Waters. The most powerful legal thrillers are often those that don’t need to invent anything. Discover the films that chronicled the real legal battles that changed history and society.

👉 GO TO THE LIST: True Story Movies

Drama Movies

Behind every sentence, there is a human being. If you are less interested in legal procedure and more in the emotional weight of guilt, innocence, and the moral consequences of a verdict (as in Kramer vs. Kramer or Philadelphia), here you will find the beating heart of storytelling.

👉 GO TO THE LIST: Drama Movies

⚖️ In the Name of the Law: The Classics

From the claustrophobic black-and-white dramas of the 1950s to the gripping 1990s thrillers adapted from John Grisham’s bestsellers, this section explores the foundations of the courtroom drama. Here you will find films where tension stems not from car chases, but from a tight cross-examination, a harrowing moral doubt, or a jury holding a man’s life in its hands. These are the works that turned the courtroom into the world’s most dramatic stage, teaching us that law and justice are not always the same thing.

12 Angry Men (1957)

The jury in a murder trial must decide the fate of a young defendant. Eleven jurors are convinced of his guilt and ready to close the case, but Juror Number 8 (Henry Fonda) harbors a “reasonable doubt.” On a hot summer day, he forces the others to re-examine the evidence and their own prejudices. Directed by Sidney Lumet. Filmed almost entirely in a single room, this is the quintessential courtroom drama. It is a masterpiece of psychological tension, writing, and acting, where suspense derives not from an investigation, but from a debate. It is unmissable because it demonstrates how the most important “trial” does not take place in the courtroom, but in the conscience of men, exploring prejudice, conformity, and the courage of moral integrity.

Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

Sir Wilfrid Robarts (Charles Laughton), a brilliant London barrister recovering from a heart attack, accepts against medical advice to defend Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power) against a murder charge. The case seems solid until Vole’s wife, the icy Christine (Marlene Dietrich), decides to testify… against her husband. Directed by Billy Wilder. Adapted from an Agatha Christie play and directed by Billy Wilder, this is a perfect legal mystery. It is a must-watch for its diabolical plot, full of red herrings, cynical humor, and masterful performances (especially Laughton and Dietrich). It is a clockwork mechanism that celebrates the art of deception and performance in the courtroom, culminating in one of the most famous and shocking endings ever.

The Onion Field (1979)

In 1963, two Los Angeles police detectives are kidnapped by a pair of petty criminals. Taken to an onion field near Bakersfield, one of the officers is brutally murdered. The surviving officer, Karl Hettinger, manages to escape, but his ordeal is just beginning. Tormented by guilt and ostracized by colleagues, he must face a legal system that allows the killers to manipulate the trial for years. Based on a true story and independently produced by Joseph Wambaugh’s Black Marble Productions (author of the book and a retired cop), The Onion Field is a raw and disillusioned work that anticipates the critique of the judicial system by decades. The film shows how “justice delayed” is a form of “justice denied,” exposing the flaws and delays of a system that seems more interested in protecting the rights of the guilty than giving peace to the victims.

Blood Simple (1984)

In a desolate Texas town, bar owner Marty hires a sleazy and amoral private investigator, Visser, to kill his wife Abby and her lover Ray. But the seemingly simple plan turns into a chaotic and bloody game of double-crosses, misunderstandings, and violence, where no one knows who to trust and every decision leads to increasingly disastrous consequences. The dazzling debut of the Coen brothers, independently produced by River Road Productions, is a neo-noir masterpiece entirely driven by the fear of legal consequences. The characters act not out of greed or passion, but out of a desperate and often clumsy attempt to cover their tracks and avoid justice. The law is a looming shadow, a threat that turns a “simple” crime into a bloodbath.

Criminal Law (1988)

Ben Chase, a bright young defense attorney, wins an acquittal for his wealthy client, Martin Thiel, accused of a brutal murder. Shortly after, another series of identical crimes shocks the city, and Ben begins to suspect that his former client is a serial killer who is now stalking him. Tormented by guilt, Ben finds himself trapped in a perverse psychological game with the man he set free. Produced by independent companies Hemdale Film Corporation and Northwood Communications, Criminal Law is a tense 80s psychological thriller that explores the moral dilemma of a lawyer who realizes he has put a monster back on the streets. The film questions ethical responsibility beyond the professional obligation to defend a client. Although the plot may seem conventional, Martin Campbell’s direction creates a dark and paranoid atmosphere.

A Few Good Men (1992)

Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise), a young and arrogant Navy lawyer used to plea bargaining, is assigned to defend two Marines accused of killing a fellow soldier at the Guantanamo base. What looks like a “code red” (hazing) gone wrong turns out to be a direct clash with the powerful Colonel Jessep (Jack Nicholson). Directed by Rob Reiner. Written by Aaron Sorkin, this is the quintessential mainstream “legal thriller.” It is legendary for the iconic final courtroom showdown between Cruise and Nicholson (“You can’t handle the truth!”). It is unmissable because it is pure high-tension entertainment, a moral drama about military honor, obedience, and responsibility, built on lightning-fast dialogue.

Philadelphia (1993)

Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks), a promising lawyer, is fired from his prestigious law firm as soon as they discover he has AIDS. He decides to sue for discriminatory dismissal and, rejected by everyone, hires Joe Miller (Denzel Washington), a low-profile and homophobic lawyer. Directed by Jonathan Demme. It was the first major Hollywood film to directly address the AIDS epidemic and discrimination. It is a powerful and moving work, more a judicial drama than a thriller. It must be seen (and included) for its historical importance and for the performances (both awarded Oscars) that transform the trial into a heartbreaking battle for justice and human dignity.

Primal Fear (1996)

Martin Vail (Richard Gere), a cynical defense attorney hungry for fame, takes the pro bono case of Aaron Stampler (Edward Norton), a young, stuttering, and apparently harmless altar boy accused of the heinous murder of an archbishop. Vail becomes convinced that the boy suffers from a personality disorder. Directed by Gregory Hoblit. This film is the vehicle that launched Edward Norton’s extraordinary career, offering a simply stunning debut here. It is unmissable for its deceptive plot, which plays with genre stereotypes, and for the final plot twist, one of the most effective of the 90s, which flips the perspective and questions the nature of guilt and manipulation.

A Time to Kill (1996)

In deep Mississippi, Carl Lee Hailey (Samuel L. Jackson), a black man, takes justice into his own hands by killing the two white men who brutally raped his little girl. He is defended by Jake Brigance (Matthew McConaughey), a young white lawyer who must face racial threats and the hostility of the Ku Klux Klan. Directed by Joel Schumacher. Adapted from Grisham, this is a fiery and highly emotional courtroom drama. It is an unmissable film for its direct exploration of systemic racism in the American South and for McConaughey’s closing argument, which has become a classic of the genre. It is a perfect example of a “courtroom drama” that uses legal suspense to address burning social issues.

The Devil’s Advocate (1997)

Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves), a young and undefeated defense attorney from Florida, receives an offer he can’t refuse from a powerful New York law firm led by the charismatic and omnipotent John Milton (Al Pacino). Soon, his perfect life begins to turn into a supernatural nightmare. Directed by Taylor Hackford. This film is a bold and entertaining hybrid of “legal thriller” and supernatural horror. It is included for Al Pacino’s histrionic and memorable performance as the Devil himself. It is a Faustian work that uses the legal environment (lawyers as “soldiers of Satan”) as a perfect metaphor for temptation, unbridled ambition, and moral corruption.

The Interview (1998)

Eddie Fleming is taken from his home and brought to a police station for questioning. He doesn’t know why he is there, and the detectives interrogating him, John Steele and Wayne Prior, give him no respite. What begins as a standard procedure turns into an exhausting psychological battle lasting hours, where truth is a malleable concept and the line between guilt and innocence becomes increasingly thin. This tense and claustrophobic psychological thriller (even if the “courtroom” is an interrogation room) is a jewel of Australian independent cinema. The entire film rests on the verbal and mental duel between the characters, with an extraordinary performance by Hugo Weaving. The film is a powerful critique of police interrogation tactics and the ease with which the perception of reality can be manipulated.

The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen) (2006)

In 1984 East Berlin, loyal and meticulous Stasi Captain Gerd Wiesler is assigned to surveil Georg Dreyman, a famous playwright seemingly loyal to the regime. Wiesler installs bugs in the artist’s apartment and immerses himself in the lives of Dreyman and his partner, actress Christa-Maria Sieland. Listening to their conversations, their music, and their love, the icy agent begins to doubt his mission and the system he serves. Although not a legal thriller in the strict sense, it is a drama about moral justice. The defendant is an entire totalitarian system, and the judge is a man rediscovering his conscience. Wiesler’s constant surveillance is a perpetual investigation, a gathering of evidence that, instead of confirming the artist’s guilt, reveals the State’s moral bankruptcy. A masterpiece on the power of individual choice against oppression.

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (4 luni, 3 săptămâni și 2 zile) (2007)

Romania, 1987, during the final years of the Ceaușescu regime. Otilia helps her roommate and friend, Găbița, organize an illegal abortion. In a world where informing is the norm and trust is a rare commodity, the two young women must navigate an underworld of sleazy hotels, blackmailers, and constant fear. Cristian Mungiu’s masterpiece is a thriller of unbearable tension. There is no courtroom, but the protagonists are constantly on trial by a totalitarian system that has made a private act a crime against the State. Every encounter is a potential interrogation, every choice has legal and deadly consequences. It is a masterful analysis of survival and female solidarity in a context where the law is an instrument of inhumane control.

The Class (Entre les murs) (2008)

François and his fellow teachers prepare for a new school year in a tough Parisian middle school. Armed with the best intentions, François seeks to offer his students a stimulating education, but he clashes daily with their apathy, insolence, and the cultural tensions that explode in the classroom. Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes, Laurent Cantet’s film stages a continuous educational and disciplinary “trial.” The classroom is a court where behaviors are judged, rules are negotiated, and verdicts (class councils) are issued that will have a profound impact on the students’ lives. Shot in an almost documentary style, it explores the role of language as an instrument of power and exclusion.

The Secret in Their Eyes (El secreto de sus ojos) (2009)

Benjamín Espósito, a retired court agent, decides to write a novel based on an unsolved murder case that has obsessed him for 25 years. Revisiting the past, he not only reopens the wounds of a brutal crime but is forced to confront his unrequited love for his former superior, Irene. The search for the truth about the case becomes inextricably intertwined with the search for closure in his personal life. Juan José Campanella’s masterpiece is much more than a simple thriller. It is a poignant reflection on memory, time, and the nature of justice. The film masterfully weaves the procedural drama with a melancholic love story, set against the turbulent backdrop of pre-dictatorship Argentina. The final plot twist is not just a brilliant narrative mechanism, but a shocking meditation on the difference between legal punishment and personal justice.

Bernie (2011)

In the small town of Carthage, Texas, Bernie Tiede is the most beloved man around: a gentle, generous mortician always ready to help others. His life changes when he strikes up an unlikely friendship with Marjorie Nugent, a wealthy and despotic widow hated by the entire community. When Mrs. Nugent disappears and Bernie starts spending her money generously, the truth that emerges is stranger than fiction. Directed by Richard Linklater, Bernie is a brilliant black comedy that hybridizes true crime with the legal thriller. The film uses a mockumentary style, interspersing the narrative with testimonies from the real citizens of Carthage. The film hilariously and sharply explores the concept of the “court of public opinion” versus the court of law, questioning the very idea of punishment when the culprit is loved and the victim despised.

The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)

Mick Haller (Matthew McConaughey) is a cynical and shrewd Los Angeles defense attorney who works mainly from the back seat of his Lincoln car. He deals with low-profile criminals until he lands the case of a lifetime: defending a wealthy Beverly Hills playboy (Ryan Phillippe) accused of assault. Directed by Brad Furman. It is a modern, tense, and fast-paced legal thriller that marked the beginning of the “McConaissance” (McConaughey’s resurgence). It is a solid, well-constructed film full of intrigue. It is included because, unlike moral dramas, it shows the “street” side of defense, unfolding more like a classic mystery than a procedural drama.

A Separation (Jodaeiye Nader az Simin) (2011)

Nader and Simin are at odds: she wants to leave Iran to provide a better future for their daughter, while he refuses to abandon his father suffering from Alzheimer’s. Their separation triggers a chain of events involving a religious caregiver and her hot-headed husband. A domestic incident turns into a murder accusation, dragging the two families into a vortex of lies, moral dilemmas, and class clashes before the Iranian judicial system. A Separation is a masterpiece of tension demonstrating how independent legal cinema can be more compelling than any blockbuster. The film is a moral thriller where every character has their reasons, and every lie is dictated by a desperate need to protect something or someone. The Iranian legal system is portrayed as a bureaucratic maze where truth is constantly renegotiated.

Silenced (Dogani) (2011)

A new art teacher arrives at a school for the hearing-impaired and discovers with horror that the students are victims of systematic physical and sexual abuse by the principal and other staff members. Together with a human rights activist, he decides to expose the crimes and bring the perpetrators to justice, clashing with a wall of silence, corruption, and a legal system that seems to protect the powerful. Based on real events, Silenced is a South Korean film of devastating intensity. It is a judicial thriller that transcends the genre to become a powerful act of social indictment. The second part of the film is a heartbreaking procedural drama showing the difficulty of obtaining justice for the most vulnerable victims. The film had a huge social impact in South Korea, leading to real legislative reform.

The Hunt (Jagten) (2012)

Lucas, a kindergarten teacher beloved by all in a small Danish community, is slowly rebuilding his life after a difficult divorce. However, his existence is destroyed when a young girl, prompted by an innocent lie, accuses him of indecency. The news spreads like a virus, turning friends and neighbors into an angry mob. Lucas finds himself alone, hunted by a mass hysteria that allows no doubt. Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt is a chilling analysis of the fragility of truth. Although not a traditional courtroom drama, the film stages a summary trial conducted by the community itself, where accusation equals conviction and the presumption of innocence is erased. Mads Mikkelsen’s monumental performance captures the despair of a man whose innocence is irrelevant in the face of blind collective conviction.

Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem (2014)

In Israel, Viviane Amsalem has been trying for years to obtain a divorce (a “gett”) from her husband Elisha, from whom she lives apart. However, under Jewish religious law, only the husband can grant a divorce. Faced with a rabbinical court made up entirely of men, Viviane is trapped in a humiliating and endless process, forced to beg for her freedom while her husband opposes her with stubborn silence. Directed by siblings Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz, Gett is a claustrophobic and powerful procedural drama, shot almost entirely inside a single, stark courtroom. The film is a fierce critique of the patriarchal legal system, where a woman’s testimony is constantly questioned and her autonomy denied.

Court (2014)

In Mumbai, the body of a sewage worker is found in a manhole. Authorities accuse Narayan Kamble, an elderly folk singer and activist, of inciting him to suicide with one of his subversive songs. Thus begins a surreal trial that drags on for months, while the machinery of Indian justice moves with maddening slowness. Court is a satirical and devastating critique of the Indian legal system. Far from any melodrama, the film adopts an almost documentary style, with long static shots accentuating the stagnation and dehumanization of bureaucracy. The courtroom is a place where archaic colonial-era laws are applied without logic. It focuses not on “who is guilty,” but on the absurdity of a system that has lost sight of its purpose.

Spotlight (2015)

It tells the true story of the Boston Globe’s “Spotlight” team, a squad of investigative journalists who in 2001 uncovered a systematic scandal of child sexual abuse by Catholic priests, covered up for decades by the Archdiocese of Boston. Directed by Tom McCarthy. Winner of the Oscar for Best Picture, it is a masterpiece of procedural cinema. Even though it focuses on journalism and not on a courtroom, it is a “legal thriller” in the broad sense: it is a methodical, patient, and tense investigation. It is unmissable for its sobriety, respect for facts, and for how it celebrates the importance of procedural and journalistic truth without ever falling into sensationalism.

The Salesman (Forushande) (2016)

Forced to leave their dilapidated apartment, Emad and Rana, a couple of actors staging Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” move into a new home. One evening, Rana is assaulted by an intruder. While Rana sinks into fear, Emad, frustrated by the police’s inertia, begins a personal hunt for the man, obsessed with a desire for revenge. The Salesman is a powerful legal thriller in the broadest sense: it is an investigation into personal justice versus institutional justice. Emad sets himself up as investigator, judge, and potential executioner, staging a private trial. The film masterfully weaves the plot with Miller’s play, using the theater as a mirror to reflect themes of humiliation, male honor, and guilt.

Denial (2016)

American historian Deborah Lipstadt is sued for libel by British writer David Irving after she calls him a Holocaust denier. In the British legal system, the burden of proof lies with the defendant, so Lipstadt and her legal team must prove one of the most documented truths in history: that the Holocaust actually happened. Denial is a compelling procedural drama based on true events. The film explores the perverse logic of the British legal system in libel cases and the challenge of having to prove an irrefutable historical fact against an adversary who manipulates history for their own ideological ends. Rachel Weisz and Timothy Spall offer exceptional performances in a film that questions the nature of truth and the responsibility of historians.

I, Daniel Blake (2016)

Daniel Blake, a 59-year-old carpenter from Newcastle, is forced to stop working due to a severe heart attack. Despite doctors’ orders to the contrary, an impersonal state assessment declares him fit for work, denying him sickness benefits. To survive, Daniel is forced to navigate a digital and inhumane bureaucratic maze. Directed by Ken Loach, I, Daniel Blake is not a traditional legal thriller, but it stages the cruelest of legal battles: that of a citizen against a state that has abandoned him. The British welfare system becomes an invisible courtroom, where Daniel is guilty until proven innocent and the rules are incomprehensible. It is an indictment against the dehumanization of public services.

The Guilty (Den skyldige) (2018)

Asger Holm, a police officer relegated to emergency service pending a disciplinary hearing, answers a call from a woman who appears to have been kidnapped. With only the phone as his weapon, Asger launches a race against time to save her, using intuition and cunning to guide patrols in the field. This Danish thriller is a tour de force of minimalism. Shot entirely in a single setting, the film creates a whole world through sound. Although there is no trial, the film is inherently “legal”: Asger acts as investigator, negotiator, and judge, issuing sentences based on partial information. His struggle to solve the case intertwines with his anxiety about his upcoming trial, revealing how prejudices can distort the perception of truth.

The Conviction (Une intime conviction) (2018)

Nora, a single mother, sits on the jury at the trial of Jacques Viguier, accused of murdering his missing wife. Convinced of his innocence, when Viguier is acquitted but the prosecution appeals, Nora contacts famous lawyer Éric Dupond-Moretti and convinces him to defend Viguier in the appeal trial, collaborating with him in a desperate search for the truth. The Conviction flips the traditional perspective: the protagonist is not a lawyer or a defendant, but an ordinary citizen consumed by the search for justice. The film explores the concept of “intimate conviction” and the obsession with truth, showing how the quest for justice can become a personal crusade with very high costs.

The Traitor (Il Traditore) (2019)

In the early 1980s, a war between Sicilian mafia clans causes hundreds of deaths. Tommaso Buscetta, a high-ranking “man of honor,” is arrested in Brazil and extradited to Italy. Buscetta makes a historic decision: he decides to break the code of silence (omertà) and collaborate with judge Giovanni Falcone, becoming the first major Cosa Nostra informant and triggering the Maxi Trial of Palermo. Directed by Marco Bellocchio, The Traitor is not just a gangster movie, but a complex procedural drama that delves into the chaotic and theatrical hearings of the Maxi Trial, transforming the bunker courtroom into a stage of power, betrayal, and revenge. Pierfrancesco Favino offers a magnetic performance as Buscetta.

Clemency (2019)

Bernadine Williams is a death row warden, a professional who has overseen numerous executions with impeccable demeanor. But the impending execution of Anthony Woods, a man who continues to proclaim his innocence, begins to crack her emotional armor. As the fateful day approaches, the psychological weight of her job consumes her. Chinonye Chukwu’s Clemency is a heartbreaking analysis of the human cost of the death penalty, not only for the condemned but also for those charged with carrying it out. Alfre Woodard’s performance is monumental. The tension lies not in whether Woods will get clemency, but in seeing how far Bernadine’s soul can withstand the weight of being a cog in the machine of death.

Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness (2019)

In Iran, young Maryam is sentenced to death for murdering her husband. The only person who can save her is Mona, the man’s daughter. According to the law, if Mona forgives Maryam on live television during a reality show broadcast on Yalda night, the sentence will be annulled. Before millions of viewers, the two women are forced to relive the past in a macabre spectacle. This film by Massoud Bakhshi is a tense work criticizing contemporary Iranian society. The court is not a state institution but a television studio, where the verdict is decided by forgiveness and audience SMS votes. The film stages a media procedural drama that raises deep questions about the commodification of pain and retributive justice.

The Sparring Partner (Zhengyi huilang) (2022)

A young man is accused of brutally murdering and dismembering his parents, with the alleged complicity of a friend. The shocking case is brought to court, where a jury must navigate conflicting versions from the defendants, gruesome evidence, and complex legal arguments. Based on a notorious murder case in Hong Kong, The Sparring Partner is a dark and complex procedural drama. The film focuses almost entirely on the trial, reconstructing events through flashbacks and testimonies. It explores the ambiguity of evidence and the difficulty for a jury to reach a unanimous verdict in the face of such a heinous crime and such enigmatic defendants.

Argentina, 1985 (2022)

In 1985, a few years after the end of the military dictatorship, prosecutors Julio Strassera and Luis Moreno Ocampo dare to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the bloodiest tyranny in Argentine history. With no experience in a case of this magnitude and under constant threat from the junta, they form a young and inexperienced legal team to wage a David vs. Goliath battle. Argentina, 1985 is a compelling and fundamentally important historical legal thriller. The film manages to balance the gravity of the crimes with the humanity of its protagonists. It does not limit itself to reconstructing the hearings but captures the spirit of an entire nation struggling to come to terms with its past. Strassera’s final indictment is a powerful and moving moment of cinema.