According to a private detective, there are only four large, mocha-colored automobiles in all of Evian, a town on the French side of Lake Geneva. The protagonist of “Moka” — and the woman who paid for that information — lives across the water in Switzerland. She’s certain that one of those four cars struck and killed her child.
Adapted from a 2007 novel by Tatiana de Rosnay (whose grim “Sarah’s Key” was made into a movie in 2010), “Moka” is a stark, moody mystery that doesn’t actually contain much mystery. Instead, it excels as a character study and a dynamic face-off between two formidable actresses: Emmanuelle Devos and Nathalie Baye.
Devos plays Diane, whose teenage son Luc (Paulin Jaccoud) has died in a hit-and-run. Baye is Marl?ne, the woman who may or may not have been at the wheel.
Diane’s grief has left her estranged from her husband, Simon (Samuel Labarthe), who frustrates her by trusting in the police to investigate Luc’s death. Diane, for her part, moves across the lake, accompanied only by a cellphone and the girlfriend Luc never mentioned, Adrienne (Marion Reymond). On the ferry ride over, Diane meets a young smuggler (Olivier Chantreau). His specialty seems to be dope, but he just might also be able to get Diane a gun.
