Review: Au nom de ma fille (aka Kalinka)
Based on the extraordinary true story of a father's three decades-long quest to bring his daughter's killer to justice, Au nom de ma fille (Kalinka) stars the redoubtable Daniel Auteuil as Andre Bamberski, first seen arrested on charges of kidnapping, assault and battery, and conspiring with criminals in 2009 before the film jumps back 35 years earlier to Morocco where the tragic events that would eventually unfold had their beginning.
A French accountant living the expat life with wife Dany (Marie-Josée Croze), daughter Kalinka and son Pierre, Andre befriends widower and doctor Dieter Krombach (Sebastian Koch), the father of one of Kalinka's best friends and who becomes a constant presence in their lives especially after the good doctor helps Kalinka recover from a roadside accident. His bedside manner extends to the lonely Dany, and the two soon embark on an affair, the discovery of which prompts Andre to move his family back to France. The lovers are not deterred, Andre charges them with adultery, Andre and Dany are divorced, and Dany and Dieter are married shortly thereafter.
Several years pass. Andre is now in a relationship with Cecile (Christelle Cornil) and they're in the midst of their holiday when Andre receives the terrible news that Kalinka has died whilst staying with Dany and Dieter at their Lake Constance home. Upon his arrival there, the grieving father finds little definitive information as to the cause of her death. Perhaps she was suffering from sunstroke, Dieter ponders, she had been staying out at the pool for most of the day and wasn't feeling well; she had asked for a sleeping pill later that night and he had given her one. When he found her unconscious the next morning, Dieter tells Andre, he had done everything within his power, including giving her injections, to revive her.
When autopsy reports reveal that those injections were unnecessary and that there was evidence of sexual assault, Andre begins to believe that Dieter was behind Kalinka's death. Unfortunately, his every attempt to uncover the truth is blocked by legal formalities imposed by both the French and German courts. Andre, however, will not be dissuaded from his quest and sacrifices the next 27 years of his life to ensure that Dieter is duly punished for his crime.
Au nom de ma fille is admirably, if dryly, procedural in its telling of the events and the intricacies of the numerous legal obstacles that Andre faced. The dryness enhances some of the more morbid details - Kalinka's genitals went missing after the autopsy - though it often dilutes the more fascinating facts such as the other accusations of sexual abuse levied against Dieter by his teenage patients. The pacing is swift, the narrative tension well-maintained, and the performances by Auteuil and Koch nuanced and dedicated.
Au nom de ma fille (aka Kalinka)
Directed by: Vincent Garenq
Written by: Julien Rappeneau, Vincent Garenq
Starring: Daniel Auteuil, Sebastian Koch, Marie-Josée Croze, Christelle Cornil, Lila-Rose Gilberti, Emma Besson
