Following Saint Omer and Anatomy Of A Fall, French cinema delivers another devastating courtroom drama, with the release of the semi-biographical The Goldman Case. Set in 1970s Paris, this furiously fired-up, attention-grabbing film is an intense recreation of the appeal hearing of far-left Jewish militant Pierre Goldman.

It stars Arieh Worthalter as Goldman, in a César Award-winning turn. We meet him as he pleads not guilty to the ransacking of a pharmacy in which two women were killed, after admitting carrying out three other armed robberies. Despite also confessing to a litany of personal failings, Goldman is insistent that he is innocent in this particular case.

The trial unfolds in a tempestuous courtroom, populated with the accused’s outraged associates, a ravenous press pack, and even celebrities. As he argues with everyone, flings accusations of racism around, makes jokes and shows enormous contempt for the police and French legal system, Goldman represents a huge headache for his lawyer Georges Kiejman (Arthur Harari) and their testy relationship is a highlight of the film.

The complicated, charismatic Goldman is a gift of a role and it’s one Worthalter really gets his teeth into, with Harari credibly put-upon as Kiejman. Best known for 2001’s Roberto Succo, director Cédric Kahn adopts an unflashy yet probing shtick that closes us in around the characters as they offer their testimony, while the defence manage to pull off a mic-drop moment involving a damning prop.

The film’s narrow focus is part of its charm. With a couple of small exceptions, it stays largely confined to the courtroom, as events swing from entertaining debacle, to something more righteous, and a supposedly sacred institution is disrespected over and over again.

The Goldman Case is in cinemas now.