Where is Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès, the father suspected of murdering his wife and four children and missing since? M6 imagined a plausible end to the drama in a docu-fiction titled In the head of the suspect, aired this Monday evening.
What happened to Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès? This is the answer to which M6 tries to answer in a docu-fiction entitled In the head of the suspect, diffused this Monday evening.
At the beginning of the TV movie, the character of Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès promises face camera to tell "what really happened" . Or how a "Mr. All-World" was able to kill the four children he adored, as his director Ionut Teianu described at a press conference.
Based on a journalistic investigation, the film alternates between the story of the events by the alleged murderer, with a violent scene of homicides, and testimonies of relatives of the file. He also imagines an outcome to this case become one of the most intriguing news of recent years.
Five corpses
The five corpses were discovered in Nantes on April 21, 2011, more than two weeks after the murders. Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès, he had been seen for the last time on April 15 in the South of France with, on the back, a case that could contain a rifle.
Justice has not established the guilt of the father. He had sent letters assuring that his family would be placed under the protection of American justice.
Instead, the film lays the hypothesis of a spiral of debt that would have pushed him to suppress his wife, children and dogs rather than face a social decline. " I had no choice. I could not let you live all this: failure, poverty, humiliation, " throws to his family the character of the alleged murderer, who could be aged 57 today.
Still alive?
His interpreter, the Belgian actor Erico Salomone, says he played "two characters" , between "the role of the very loving dad and the one who rocks" . On the one hand, a charming family man who wanted to be a model, and on the other hand a calculating and manipulative man, who wanted to prepare the perfect crime, and who did not expect the police to find the bodies under the terrace of the family home.
"It was important to find the part of humanity of the character," says Ionut Teianu. Xavier Dupont De Ligonnès has "written a lot" (letters, messages on internet forums) and "that's what gave the thread to the film," says the director.
The mix of facts and fiction baffles, but sums up the case well with its most sordid details, with its gray areas too. The families of the protagonists were "informed" of the project and "the only request of the family of Agnès (the mother, ed) was that one does not evoke the intimate life of the couple," says the director.
"I think he's alive," said Bruno de Stabenrath, the childhood friend of Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès who testifies in the documentary. "Of course it's a monster (...) But I'll always try to understand. He remains my friend, whatever he has done, " said the actor and writer, who is preparing a book on the investigation.
A film followed by a debate
The film will be broadcast Monday on M6 debate, where Nathalie Renoux will receive some witnesses and specialists who worked on the case. M6 already pre-investigates other criminal cases to deal with in this original angle of docu-fiction.
Its competitor, TF1, who enjoyed a great audience success with his film about Jacqueline Sauvage, is also interested in the case. The channel begins these days shooting a mini-series, "Suspicions to Vannes" , where a character played by Kad Merad is suspected of being Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès.