In 2000
Christian Iacono
, a
65-year-old
respected doctor and mayor of the
Côte d'Azur
, was charged with rape by his own nine-year-old grandson. A decade later, and after starring in one of the most controversial court cases in recent French history,
Gabriel Iacono
, now a 20-year-old adult, recanted. This family tragedy, the secrets that caused it and the institutional errors that fed it reach television with
La mentira
, a miniseries that in its broadcast in the neighboring country on the public France 2
was seen by more than 4.5 million people
achieving a 20% screen share.
«The plot is quite faithful to reality. And for this I do a very exhaustive documentation work. I have worked with three books, the original work of Christian Iacono », entitled, like the series,
La mentira
,« and two other books related to the case. I have also had access to the summary of the instruction. I have investigated the court case in depth. And I have been in contact with Christian and Gabriel ”, explains to EL MUNDO
Vincent Garenq
, director of films based on other real court dramas such as
Présumé coupable
or
In the name of my daughter
.
“They both agreed that the series should be made and the story released.
And what I do in all my films is to work hand in hand with the people involved so that they feel comfortable ", explains Garenq, creator of this four-part miniseries, which COSMO broadcasts on Tuesdays at 10:30 p.m. in Spain and offers on demand in different payment operators.
“First, I showed them all the versions of the script.
Afterwards, I would send them the photos of the shoot every day.
Of course,
the protagonists are not going to control the production, but that is how they digest it little by little
They participate in the process and feel that their point of view is being taken into account.
The protagonists of this story have suffered a lot, so it is not about feeling betrayed by the end result, "he adds.
In fiction, the accused is
Claude Arbona
(Daniel Auteuil
), a successful man who after a life dedicated to medicine and being mayor of his city prepares to become a senator. He has a particularly close relationship with his grandson Lucas, who while his parents are separating accuses him of having repeatedly raped him when he was between five and eight years old. The boy offers so much detail that psychologists and police officers do not question his testimony. Just as it happened in reality.
Christian Iacono was imprisoned after the declaration of his grandson and in April 2009 he was sentenced in the first instance to nine years in prison for rape and sexual assault, a sentence confirmed on appeal in February 2011. Although throughout the process he defended his innocence, the case He was reeling when shortly after, in May 2011, Gabriel said that his grandfather had not raped him and, if the events occurred, he did not know who it was. "
I don't want him to spend another day in jail when he's innocent,
" said the young man at Nice-Matin as he asked for forgiveness.
Gabriel explained that he
had lied as a child to get the attention of his divorced parents
.
The young man also explained that he was convinced and influenced by the different doctors and psychologists who saw him about the reality of his own lies, but during the trials doubts assailed him.
As published by
Le Figaro
, after spending 16 months in prison, spread over four different periods, Christian Iacono was released in April 2012 and definitively acquitted in 2015 after submitting a request for review to the Court of Cassation regarding the retractions of his grandson.
In the words of Garenq, "how we can live and survive the lie" is the core of the miniseries.
Starting with telling
how a child can make a false accusation of such caliber
to finish by explaining how a family can recover from this misfortune. «What interests me in stories based on real cases is to reconstruct precisely the whole puzzle. It is about putting a chronology in order and gradually interpreting all the facts with all the data we have collected, ”says the screenwriter and director. «For example, in the first chapter we see how parents are transmitting to the child, without realizing it, that seed of guilt in the grandfather, by asking him if he has ever touched him. Later we will see how this fluttering of the butterfly has terrible consequences ”, he adds about the role that each character plays in the course of the story and the family conflict as a trigger for the drama.
“When it comes to lies, I was interested in the double plot it generates.
On the one hand, how can grandfather face something he knows is a lie and is going to destroy his life?
On the other hand, how can a child who has lied not bear to live inside that lie? ”, Explains the director and screenwriter.
«The series tells little by little how this child is in the end a brave one because he reacts.
For him it would have been much easier to lie because in the eyes of society he is the victim
.
But he can not.
This heroism is the most important dimension of the series because it goes far beyond the real story and that it is based on real events, it is an ethical dimension, it touches the morals of each one ", concludes Garenq.
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