The Oussekine series, based on a true story , is out on Disney+. Four episodes that tell the story of the murder of Malik Oussekine, a case of police violence that has divided the French. A look back at some key news items adapted for the small screen.
The mini-series inspired by the disappearance of the four-year-old boy was broadcast on TF1 in the fall of 2021. Created by Jérémy Guez and Alexandre Smia, it shed light on the investigation into the death of Grégory Villemin on October 16, 1984 . The little one had been found dead the same evening in the depths of Vologne, when his mother had lost sight of him earlier in the afternoon. Nearly 40 years later, the killer has still not been identified.
Very precise, the series meticulously restores the events that led to the tragedy, as well as the pressures suffered by the mother of the little boy. Well received by critics for the quality of the acting and the reconstruction, it was not appreciated by the real protagonists of the affair, in particular the Villemin couple who regretted not having been consulted.
This is a fiction series in 4 episodes proposed by M6 in the fall of 2020, created by Pierre Aknine and Anne Badel. Inspired by the shocking case of the most wanted man in France, the series has yet flopped. It is Arnaud Ducret who embodies a semblance of Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès, the man suspected of having killed his entire family before fleeing . Nobody knows today if he is dead or alive. The inconsistencies in the script, the acting, the reconstruction of the sets did not convince the viewers who did not adhere to this fiction.
Directed by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade and broadcast in September 2020 on France 2, Laëtitia is a 6-episode mini-series based on the murder of Laëtitia Perrais. She was killed in January 2011 after disappearing 50 meters from her home. The young woman with a difficult adolescence had moved the French. Her body had been found in several parts and a 31-year-old man, Tony Meilhon, had confessed to the murder of Laëtitia.
The series was praised by critics and was even sold to HBO in the USA, where it was aired fall 2021.
This news item had already been the subject of a first film in 1971, with Annie Girardot, but Josée Dayan wanted to adapt the story for television in 2009. The TV film, broadcast on France 2, was appreciated by viewers but less so by critics, who do not find Muriel Robin very believable in the lead role.
The true story is that of Gabrielle, a high school teacher who falls in love with Christian, one of her students, in 1968. The relationship will be discovered and will shock conservative France at the time. Legal proceedings had been initiated against Gabrielle, and she had been given a one-year suspended prison sentence. She committed suicide in 1969, a few months after her trial.
The Lie is a series in 4 episodes of 52 minutes, directed by Vincent Garenq and broadcast in October 2020 on France 2. It is adapted from the book by Christian Iacono, the former mayor of Vence who had been accused of rape by his little -son in 2000 . Daniel Auteuil embodies this grandfather who will prove not to be guilty of the acts of which his grandson accused him.
Christian Iacono admitted to having been moved by the series and touched by the interpretation of Daniel Auteuil. This affair ruined his political, personal and social life.
Jacqueline Sauvage, symbol of domestic violence, is played by Muriel Robin in a TV movie broadcast on TF1 in 2018.
Sentenced for having killed her husband who hit her and intimidated her with three shots in the back with a shotgun on September 10, 2012, she had received a presidential pardon from François Hollande after 3 years in prison.
The film enjoyed record audiences and Muriel Robin's performance was critically acclaimed. Jacqueline Sauvage died two years after the broadcast of the TV movie, inspired by her memoirs, at the age of 72.
It's not just television that likes to capture news stories:note the film L'embrasement , directed by Philippe Triboit in 2006, which retraces the affair of Zyed and Bouna, who died after being electrocuted inside an electrical substation. They had hidden there to evade police control.
