The Gregory affair held and still holds France in suspense like no other. TF1 is broadcasting the mini-series this Monday at 9:05 p.m. A French affair which offers in 6×52 minutes, a meticulous and careful reconstruction of the facts over the period from 1984 to 1987. It is “a fiction of reality, extremely documented”, summarizes the co-producer Aimée Buidine during a round table at the La Rochelle Fiction Festival where the series was presented out of competition.
Except Jeanne Lombardi, “fictitious journalist”, camped by Laurence Arné, all the protagonists of the news item bear their real names. If documentaries like Gregory released in 2019 on Netflix are little exposed to criticism, fictions are more likely to be judged “voyeuristic”, or even to be attacked in court. So why make a series on such a high profile case?
In 2006, the miniseries The Villemin case, inspired by Pyre of the innocent by Laurence Lacour, earned its broadcasters, France 3 and Arte, a conviction for defamation against Bernard Laroche, suspected for a time of the murder of Grégory then killed by the father of the child, his cousin.
“This family which has the right to respite”
The series of TF1 has not yet been broadcast as the parents of Grégory fulminate not to have been consulted. “Christine and Jean-Marie Villemin are quite shocked by the exploitation which, once again, is made of their tragedy”, notes Me François Saint-Pierre, one of their advisers, with Mes Moser and Chastant-Morand, report Eastern Republican.
If the production warned the Villemin couple of the shooting, the director Christophe Lamotte did not want to meet them “so as not to be the custodian of their word, to keep independence”, according toTV 7 days.
“This public story has been going on for years and I understand the intention. And at the same time, we understand well that of this family which is entitled to respite ”, analyzes Florence Aubenas, that 20 minutes had asked about it at Series Mania.
“We are dealing with an upheaval in society”
“Our way of handling this case is different from what has already been done,” defends Aimée Buidine. This choral series approaches the case from several points of view: that of the Villemin family, investigators and journalists.
“We are dealing with an upheaval in society, a time when France was divided, media relentlessness, a judicial machine which got carried away, France which became the echo of the media and justice, and of a human drama, magnificently embodied, ”argues the co-producer.
“We do not position ourselves where justice has not decided”
A French affair describes the breaches of journalistic ethics and the errors of justice without ever adopting a “judicial angle” on this unresolved case. “We do not position ourselves where justice has not decided,” insists Aimée Buidine.
“I would not have gone to a series that would have taken sides. It wouldn’t have been interesting or respectful. It would have been a mistake from a legal and human point of view, ”explains Guillaume de Tonquédec, who plays Etienne Sesmat, the Lorraine gendarme who led the investigation in 1984.
This claimed neutrality is based on the well-documented work of screenwriters Alexandre Smia (The Legends office) and Jérémie Guez (The Night devoured the world). “They relied on a multitude of sources, archives, the reports of the gendarmes”, summarizes Aimée Buidine.
“We were all carried by this common responsibility”
Yes A French affair is aware of the red lines not to be crossed on a legal level, the actors and the director Christophe Lamotte feel “responsible” towards all the protagonists of the case, and in particular, the parents of the little one murdered boy.
Guillaume Gouix, who plays Jean-Marie Villemin, wanted at all costs “to avoid the voyeuristic and shameless side in the face of this misfortune”. “We were all carried by this common responsibility. We have the feeling of being in the right place on a fair project, which tells something essential: the man is capable of both the best and the worst. There is this terrible media roll, and this incredible love story, confirms Blandine Bellavoir, who plays Christine Villemin. The strength of this series is to bring back humanity ”
“I tried to have the right distance”
A French affair, it is also the story of a couple who never gave up. “When one of them collapses, the other holds,” says Blandine Bellavoir. “This love is so strong. We have always seen them manage the drama, the accusations, the instrumentalisation. Finally, we see them together, love each other “, underlines Laurence Arné, who hopes that if the Villemin couple watch the series” they will be happy because we have never seen them like that “.
“Fiction also gives access to a form of intimacy and romance that there is not in documentaries”, defends Guillaume Gouix. “With the fiction of reality, we are in the emotion, in immersion in that moment, that is the strength of the proposal,” confirms the producer.
An emotion staged with sobriety. “I tried to get the right distance. Godard said that “traveling is a moral issue”, it’s true. I approached it like this. We have to trust the human soul that we are and the look we have to tackle this kind of business, ”considers director Christophe Lamotte.
“This business is no longer theirs”
“Beyond the news item, it is facts of life, of society, of human souls that penetrate us through TV, newspapers, discussions at family dinners, everyone’s opinions on the affair. This irrigates the whole of society “, continues Christophe Lamotte, who recalls that” lots of young people do not know this story “.
“With my parents, glued to the TV, we followed this affair which has become, forgive me the expression, a soap opera. Unfortunately, behind all of this, there were humans, families who were shattered, ”recalls Michaël Youn.
The actor who plays the journalist Jean-Michel Bezzina, in charge of the correspondence for Le Figaro, RTL or West France believes that “the microphones of Paris have landed in the Vosges. This press has turned those lives upside down and these families shattered. “.
If Michaël Youn finds the title A French affair “Formidable” is “because unfortunately, and I am sorry to say it for the Villemin family, this affair no longer belongs to them, it belongs to the French people, to all those who have followed this story. They even found themselves dispossessed of their drama. It’s sad, but that’s what this series was needed for, to tell how it drifted. “The series questions our responsibility as media consumers”, concludes Laurence Arné. And by extension, our gaze as a spectator.