Emmanuelle Devos (Courtesy of Film Movement)

Adapted from a 2006 novel by Tatiana de Rosnay, director Frédéric Mermoud (Partners) charts a slow-burning revenge in the thriller Moka.

We meet Diane (Emmanuelle Devos) looking through a picture window at the beautiful scenery of Lake Geneva, on the French/Swiss border. It’s a leisurely area surrounded by charming and pricey resort towns, but after taking in this view, Diane just bangs her head on the window. She’s in an institution, where she has been recovering from a breakdown suffered after her teenage son Luc was killed in a hit-and-run accident. But soon she escapes from the minimum-security asylum, and with the help of an investigator, learns that a couple driving a mocha-colored Mercedes may have been the culprits.

Mermoud and cinematographer Irina Lubtchansky depict Diane’s travels through the Swiss Alps with a subtle dread, charting revenge in a setting that most people consider a dream vacation spot. And the suspects are part of that leisure economy. Marlène (Nathalie Baye), who may have driven the car, works in a beauty salon, and her younger partner Michel (David Clavel) rents out a secluded house overlooking the lake and is trying to sell their Mercedes. After tracking them down, Diane insinuates herself into their lives. But what will she do, and what will she gain?

The film encourages us to see through Diane’s eyes as she sizes up her potential prey: Marlène and Michel do not seem like nice people, and as the grieving mother watches the couple from a distance, we see a tension that we assume confirms their guilt. But did things really happen as we imagine they did?

Veteran actors Devos (Read My Lips) and Baye (the AbFab movie) perfectly play their quiet cat-and-mouse, generating a patient suspense. Diane remains sympathetic even as her vengeful machinations increase, and Marlène develops into something more than just a resort-town beautician.

As the actors give dimension to their characters, so the tenor of the film changes as Diane gets to know Marlène and her college-aged daughter. While revenge is a natural if potentially bloody instinct, what happens when you see the humanity of your enemy? Moka takes it’s title from the neutral color of a car that became an instrument of death. As we get closer, the film suggests, we see richer colors and gain deeper understanding.

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Moka
Directed by Frédéric Mermoud
Written by Frédéric Mermoud and Antonin Martin-Hilbert, based on the novel by Tatiana De Rosnay.
With Emmanuelle Devos, Nathalie Baye
Not rated; contains violence, nudity and sexual situations.
89 minutes
Opens today at Landmark E Street Cinema.