“Brothers”, a poignant drama led by Yvan Attal and Mathieu Kassovitz, tells an absolutely incredible story! Is it based on real facts? Explanations.
In theaters on April 24, Frères tells the story of two little boys aged 5 and 7, Michel and Patrice. Abandoned by their mother in 1948, they fled into the forest. They will survive there for 7 long years and forge a bond that will unite them forever.
Decades later, the two brothers leave everything to find each other. But the past and the secrets catch up with them, even on the other side of the world. Directed by Olivier Casas, the feature film is carried by Mathieu Kassovitz and Yvan Attal, who play Michel and Patrice as adults.
Based on a true story?
Is this incredible story based on real events? Director Olivier Casas was indeed inspired by the true story of two brothers, Michel and Patrice de Robert. It all starts in 2015; the filmmaker was invited to the inauguration of a house whose renovation had been led by a certain Michel de Robert.
He is an architect of around 70 years old, “very elegant, sunny, Weston on his feet and a beautiful watch on his wrist. During the reception of the site, he is totally absorbed until, at one point, I surprise him in the process of carving a piece of wood like an Indian Cherokee, seeing my astonishment, he begins to tell me his story, his childhood, which he had never told me about.explains the filmmaker in the press kit for the film.
After this discussion, Michel asks Olivier Casas if this story could lead to a feature-length film. “Of course”replied the director. “It was only the beginning of a conversation that lasted 5 years before I started writing. Because Michel’s story had been a secret for so long that he needed to draw out the threads of it. very progressive way”underlines the director.
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A long-term investigation
To gather information for writing the screenplay, Olivier Casas went to Châtelaillon, near La Rochelle, where Michel and Patrice had lived when they were children. The filmmaker carried out his investigation, even finding the death certificate of Mr. Brunet, the man who commits suicide by hanging at the start of the film, precipitating the escape of the two brothers.
“In 2020, a week before confinement, I felt that I had to make the trip with Michel who had not returned there for more than 70 years. I brought back images where we sees Michel enter the garden of the old Brunet house and freeze in front of a garage door: it is through this same door, he explained to me, that he and Patrice had fled the house to take refuge in the forest”confides Olivier Casas.
It then took the artist 2 years of work to develop the scenario. Michel de Robert gave the director carte blanche. “I particularly wanted to nourish the adult part. Because beyond the astonishment caused by the survival of these children, what made me want to make this film was this bond of love between the two brothers , and I always talk about it in the present tense today, because it is a bond of eternity”indicates Olivier Casas.
Brothers was released in theaters on April 24.