uA happy family and many, too many shadows that suddenly fall on the present. Tonight at 21.30 on Rai 1 goes on air A suspicious husbandFrench film of 2019 directed by Christophe Lamottewhich has as its protagonist a man victim of unfortunate coincidences. Or perhaps the victim of his own actions, which now present him with the bill.
In “A Suspicious Husband” Laurence Arné and Kad Merad are Alice and Thomas Kertez. (Getty Images)
A suspicious husbandthe plot of the movie
Alice (Laurence Arné) is a nurse in her forties, long married to Thomas Kertez (Kad Merad). They have an 8 year old son, Romain (Gaspard Pasquet). A normal family like many others, which lives in the tranquility of the French province, in which it is integrated and appreciated.
The picture is destroyed when Thomas is suspected of actually being another person. According to the investigators, it is about Antoine Durieux-Jelosse, a murderer who disappeared fifteen years earlier, who jumped to the headlines for killing his entire family. Since then, he would assume a new identity, posing as Thomas Kertez.
She’s sure of it Sophie Lancelle (Géraldine Pailhas), the police chief who has never stopped investigating the matter. And she is sure that behind the image of a meek man loved by all, a terrible criminal is hidden. Overwhelmed by his wife’s doubts and the commander’s inferences, Thomas cries his innocence loudly.
Is Thomas really innocent?
Thus it stands out a complex scenario, in which the truth is lost sight of and one is no longer able to distinguish between those who lie and those who don’t. On the one hand, there is a man whose life is being destroyed by slanderous accusations. On the other, a woman whose personal and professional failures could affect the investigation.
In the middle of, Alice, unaware of everything, in love with her husband, with whom she leads a happy existence. Sophie’s entry into their lives has a disruptive impact, tipping the balance and threatening to shatter the family she built with Thomas.
An husband suspectedthe true story
The film is inspired by two news stories. The first, the Nantes massacre or case of Dupont de Ligonnès, which shook France in 2011. Agnès Dupont de Ligonnès and her four children – Arthur, Thomas, Anne and Benoît – are murdered. On April 21, the investigators found the bodies buried under the garden patio of the house where they lived. The suspect is immediately the husband of Agnès, as well as the father of the boys: Xavier Dupont de Ligonnés. Traces of him are lost on April 15th. An international arrest warrant is issued and to date there is no more news.
A suspicious husband it also has similarities with another case in the news, further back in time. That of John List, dating back to 1971. The man is 46 years old, lives in Westfield, New Jersey, and works in a bank. When he loses his job for fear of revealing the truth, kills his mother Alma and his wife Helen. Do the same with sons Frederick and John Jr..
In order not to arouse suspicion, he organizes his escape in great detail. He seems to have left with the whole family for North Carolina to rush to the bedside of his sick mother. Also, she makes all the photos of her disappear from the Westfield house. Since, disappears for about eighteen years. He assumes a false identity and rebuilds his life. He marries, but his fugitive comes to an end in 1989, when he is arrested thanks to the release of America’s Most Wanted Men list. To recognize it is a citizen of Colorado, who recognizes the man as his old neighbor, such Bob Clark. Subsequently, he was sentenced to five life sentences and died in 2008 in prison.
Christophe Lamotte’s film revolves around Alice’s point of view. A wife who refuses to believe the harsh reality that awaits her, but, at the same time, begins to look at her husband with different eyes, until she wonders who the man she married is.
iO Woman © REPRODUCTION RESERVED