Divided into five episodes, the documentary “The Fourniret affair: in the head of Monique Olivier” on Netflix retraces one of the most publicized criminal cases of recent years.
“I’ve had some notable cases in my 41-year career, but Fourniret’s goes far beyond all that..” This sentence, uttered by ex-public prosecutor Francis Nachbar, gives a brief idea of the horror behind one of the most publicized criminal investigations in France.
For 16 years, the one who is nicknamed “the ogre of the Ardennes” kidnaps, rapes and murders women and young girls. If the murderer, arrested in 2003, ends up confessing to 11 crimes, he remains one of the main suspects in 21 other cases. In 2008, he was sentenced to incompressible life imprisonment.
After looking at the death of Grégory Villemin, the Netflix platform offers a documentary series of five episodes entitled The Fourniret affair: in the head of Monique Olivier.
This investigative work, produced by documentary filmmakers Michèle Fines and Christophe Astruc, not only retraces the dramas and the trial that followed, but focuses more particularly on the role played by the criminal’s wife.
Presented as a submissive person, mute and under the influence of an executioner, Monique Olivier is quickly considered weak-minded. “Feels like we’re dealing with the service noodle”, even launches a former police commander facing the camera.
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However, there is nothing. The documentary series reveals that numerous tests have demonstrated his high intelligence quotient, well above average. From then on, the wife becomes an accomplice. “He was the manoeuvre, she the thinking head”, explains one of the experts interviewed in the documentary.
This true crime offers a worked staging and reconstructions, like Gregory. Alongside lawyers and psychologists, several relatives of the victims give themselves up. The documentary is sometimes to watch and hear, especially when Monique Olivier confesses and explains, in detail, the atrocities committed by her companion.
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On social networks, the announcement of the series has reacted to some subscribers who point to a form of opportunism. “Serial killer propaganda should be stopped. There are already enough crazy people on the loose”, can we read under one of the platform’s tweets.
“If not, do you mind releasing this kind of documentary rather than highlighting the victims? It would have been fairer”, bids another Internet user. The series nevertheless reserves an important place for the relatives of the victims and their testimonies.
Sentenced to an incompressible sentence of 28 years, Monique Olivier could return to court for the cases of Marie-Angèle Domèce, Estelle Mouzin and Joanna Parrish. The trials could take place as early as next November.
The Fourniret Affair: In the Head of Monique Olivier is available on Netflix.