Le Procès Goldman, a film by Cédric Kahn inspired by real events, will air on Arte on Wednesday, May 20, 2026 at 20:55. Unveiled as the opening title of the Quinzaine des Cinéastes, this courtroom drama revisits the second trial of Pierre Goldman, a far-left activist accused of murdering two pharmacists in Paris in 1969.
Le Procès Goldman
Film | 2023
In cinemas: September 27, 2023
Airing on Arte: Wednesday, May 20, 2026 at 8:55 p.m.
Drama, courtroom drama | Running time: 1h55
Directed by Cédric Kahn | Screenplay: Cédric Kahn, Nathalie Hertzberg
Starring Arieh Worthalter, Arthur Harari, Stéphan Guérin-Tillié
Nationality: France
In April 1976, Pierre Goldman’s second trial opens, after he was initially sentenced to life imprisonment for four armed robberies, one of which cost the lives of two pharmacists. He maintains his innocence in this last case and, within weeks, becomes the emblem of the intellectual left. Georges Kiejman, a young lawyer, takes on his defense, but their relationship soon frays as the verdict hangs in the balance.
Trailer for The Goldman Trial
Seven years and a first trial that sentenced him to life imprisonment later, Cédric Kahn opens the courtroom of Pierre Goldman's second trial, referred to the Amiens assizes on procedural grounds. In the ranks were Simone Signoret and Régis Debray, who had come to lend their influential support to the man they believed to be wrongly accused, and who, backed by a large part of the left-wing intelligentsia, was indeed proclaiming his innocence.
Far from the deadly joyrides in a white convertible from Roberto Succo (2001), Cédric Kahn presents, with The Goldman Trial, a true courtroom drama like few others being made today. While the true crime craze is more pervasive than ever on schedules and streaming platforms, the French filmmaker concentrates solely on the judicial side of the case, in an assize court that plays out like a theatre performance.
Defended by Maître Kiejman (Arthur Harari), then still unfamiliar with assize trials, Arieh Worthalter plays a principled, upright Pierre Goldman with ardor and panache. Holding the trial - and, by trickle, the film - together from start to finish with his response and his defiance of everyone, right down to his own lawyer, this anti-hero is served by carefully crafted dialogue (some of it delivered by the real Goldman during his successive trials), indispensable to a good trial film.
It’s in these codes driven to the extreme that the film draws all its power. Its tempo, as dense as it is breathless, lets the trial unfold from the inside, at the pace of the stream of witnesses who testify before the court, almost in real time. Speech saturates space and time, leaving no room for silence until the verdict, too, shaped by the audience’s words.
From details to bursts of voice, from witty quips tossed at the clash of two worlds playing out in the public seats—the old guard and the new, the right and the left, a youth with ideals and the law enforcement accused, already at the time, of violence—this impeccable close-quarters piece gives itself no look outward, not even to the lobby, no visual treatment of what either side says. We’ll have to rely on eyewitnesses at face value—while we know that the devil (and here, the acquittal or conviction) hides in the details.
Taking on head-on themes that have never been more topical—the unrepentant trio of racism, anti-Semitism, and fascism—up to a melee that disrupts the film’s rhythm and cohesion, The Goldman Trial is, in the end and in its politics, shockingly timely.
Aired on Arte, the film keeps its footing in the courtroom drama: the story doesn’t reconstruct the criminal acts, but follows the spoken word, the testimonies, and the political tensions that run through the proceedings. Arieh Worthalter won the César for Best Actor in 2024 for his portrayal of Pierre Goldman.
To go further, also check out our picks for films, series and programs to watch on TV this week, our guide to new releases across all platforms, and today’s selection What to watch today on streaming.
