A mild-mannered murderer serves on the jury for the very crime he committed in this gripping crime thriller.

American crime thrillers are considered the best in the world, but filmmakers can learn a thing or two from this intense psychological drama about a murder, a cover-up and a most unusual path to possible justice. 1960s France is embroiled in social upheaval over Algeria's fight for independence, leaving French-Algerians in the middle. In a bucolic town, seemingly far from the tensions, a respected and seemingly mild-mannered pharmacist (Jean-Pierre Darroussin in a riveting performance) impulsively rapes and kills a young woman who has been abandoned in a barn after an argument with her Algerian boyfriend. The police quickly conclude that the young Algerian is guilty and, reminiscent of scenes from the American South in the same period, seek to speedily put him on trial. Then, in a series of surprising but unavoidable circumstances, the pharmacist becomes a reluctant juror in the young man’s trial. He is soon torn between remorse for sending an innocent man to the guillotine for the crime he himself committed, a town clamoring for revenge, and his own desire to stay free. (French with English subtitles) -- Raymond Murray