‘Moulin’ Review: László Nemes Directs a Narratively Flat, Visually Arresting Spy Drama

The Hungarian director's first Cannes competition entry since his 2015 debut ‘Son of Saul’ draws on Hollywood noirs for its saga of wartime heroism.

By Siddhant Adlakha

Siddhant Adlakha

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Perhaps it takes an outsider to approach a figure of national pride with cinematic honesty. In that vein, Hungarian maestro László Nemes is a perfect fit on paper for “Moulin,” a biographical film about Jean Moulin, a French Resistance fighter of considerable acclaim. However, in practice, the drama of this World War II spy saga seldom lives up to the filmmaker’s lofty aesthetic goals, resulting in a tale of torture and human fragility that flatlines long before its central martyr.

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