Tonight, France 2 is broadcasting the TV movie “A confession”. What is this polar with Laurent Gerra and Catherine Frot worth?
WHAT IS IT ABOUT ?
The body of Maud Duberry lies at the foot of a rocky peak of the Sainte-Victoire mountain. Jean, her husband, observes her below. Questioned by the police, he explains that he could not do anything: they were both walking on the steep path, she fell. The case is quickly classified as an accident. A week later, a mysterious witness comes to cast doubt on the true nature of the accident.
A confession, Wednesday March 22 at 9.10 p.m. on France 2.
WHO IS IT WITH?
Freely adapted from the eponymous novel by John Wainwright, Une confession was directed by Hélène Fillières (Volunteer) who also officiates as a screenwriter alongside Claude Scasso (Cain).
To give life to the characters, the production has surrounded itself with faces well known to the French public, in particular Laurent Gerra (Les Combattantes) and Catherine Frot (Marguerite) in the guise of Jean and Maud Duberry.
Diane Rouxel (The Sun Too Close) plays police officer Clarisse Marquand. For his part, Antoine Duléry (The house opposite) plays doctor Michel Flamand while Lola Dewaere (Astrid and Raphaëlle), Théo Augier (The school of life) and Guillaume Arnault complete the cast.
IT’S WORTH CHECKING OUT ?
A day like any other begins in a wine estate located in the heart of Provence. Maud and Jean Duberry, a married couple, are walking on a steep path on the Sainte-Victoire mountain. While the inhabitants of the area have long been demanding the securing of the approaches to the cliff, Maud loses her life following a fall.
Quickly, the police concluded an accident but the testimony of a walker will soon come to sow doubt. Suspicions then turn to Jean. Present at the time of the tragedy, the latter assures that he could not do anything when his wife was thrown into the void.
But then, why did he watch the scene so impassively? What really happened at the top of that cliff? Did John kill his wife? Guilty or innocent? This is one of the challenges of the TV movie and the mystery will remain intact until the last minute.
If the starting plot is therefore that of an altogether classic thriller, A confession is in reality the autopsy of a complex marriage on the edge of the precipice. Some divorce, others separate but not the Duberrys who have decided to stay married despite the lack of passion and complicity.
Finally, it is indeed the story of a couple standing the test of time that emerges and frees itself over the course of the story. Little by little, the pieces of the puzzle come together, notably through numerous flashbacks and the contents of the diary in which Jean laid down the secrets of a failed marriage.
Quickly, we discover that Maud is a tyrannical and authoritarian woman who runs her wine estate with an iron fist. Jean, on the other hand, is an ordinary-looking man who lives in the shadow of his wife. Throughout the film, Laurent Gerra has a closed face and almost never outlines the slightest smile. What to question and make his character at the very least disturbing.
If we obviously want to know if Jean killed his wife, it is above all the twists and turns of this couple’s daily life that hold our attention. Finally, Maud’s death becomes almost secondary.
The angle chosen to approach this subject may be interesting, but Hélène Fillières’ film suffers from too many lengths. The lack of dialogue and the slow staging, almost too cold, prevent us from truly immersing ourselves in the story. By wanting to imprison his characters in the unsaid and a psychology that is sometimes a little easy, a chasm sets in, depriving us in passing of having empathy for them.
Unfortunately, the performance of Laurent Gerra and Catherine Frot, although solid overall, is not always convincing enough to get us on board. For their part, Antoine Duléry and Lola Dewaere, even if they are not very present on the screen, bring a welcome lightness.
With its sunny Provençal landscapes, the song of the cicadas and a news item against a background of psychological investigation, A confession should manage to keep fans of the genre in suspense until the end.