The Judge and the Assassin

Directed by Bertrand Tavernier

Produced by Lira Films, FR3

A dark historical crime drama that examines institutional failure and moral corruption through the parallel trajectories of a serial killer and the ambitious judge who pursues him for personal gain rather than justice.

France, 1893. Joseph Bouvier attempts to shoot his love who refused to marry him and to commit suicide. Upon release from the filthy asylum where he was placed, with bullets still remaining in his head, he wanders the country roads and rapes and murders many teenagers over years. The judge Rousseau captures him, but to serve his ambition seeks to avoid that Bouvier is simply declared insane.