Bruno Reidal
Theatrical release poster
Directed byVincent Le Port
Written byVincent Le Port
Produced by
  • Roy Arida
  • Thierry Lounas
  • Pierre-Emmanuel Urcun
Starring
  • Dimitri Doré
  • Jean-Luc Vincent
  • Roman Villedieu
CinematographyMichaël Capron[1]
Edited byJean-Baptiste Alazard[1]
Production
companies
Distributed byCapricci
Release dates
  • 12 July 2021 (2021-07-12) (Cannes)
  • 23 March 2022 (2022-03-23) (France)
Running time
101 minutes[1]
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench
Budget€1.5 million[2]
Box office$51,641[3]

Bruno Reidal, subtitled Confession d'un meurtrier (English: Confession of a Murderer), is a 2021 French crime drama film written and directed by Vincent Le Port in his feature debut.[1][4] Based on a real murder case that occurred in rural France in 1905, the film stars Dimitri Doré in the title role. The film premiered in the Critics' Week section of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Caméra d'Or and Queer Palm. It was theatrically released in France on 23 March 2022.

Synopsis

On an otherwise ordinary day in 1905, 17-year-old seminarian Bruno Reidal murders a 13-year-old boy in the woods near his village in the Cantal area. He then turns himself in. To understand why he committed the murder, a group of doctors led by Professor Lacassagne investigate the case. They question Bruno and ask him to write an account of his life from childhood through to the day of the crime.

During his childhood, Bruno was physically and sexually abused by his parents and had a distant relationship with his siblings. At some point, dark murderous fantasies had arisen in him. The seminary seemed to be the only way for Bruno to escape from his family and his violent thoughts and feelings. But he couldn't resist the desire to harm or kill his male classmates, and agonized silently in his guilt. He projected his thoughts primarily onto the handsome seminarian Blondel, but chooses François as his victim that day.

Cast

  • Dimitri Doré as Bruno Reidal
    • Roman Villedieu as Bruno Reidal, age 10
    • Alex Fanguin as Bruno Reidal, age 6
  • Jean-Luc Vincent as Alexandre Lacassagne
  • Tino Vigier as Blondel
  • Nelly Bruel as the mother
  • Ivan Chiodetti as the father
  • Dominique Legrand as Doctor Papillon
  • Antoine Brunel as Doctor Rousset
  • René Loyon as le supérieur
  • Rémy Leboucq as the shepherd
  • Tristan Chiodetti as François

Production

Bruno Reidal was produced by Thierry Lounas for Capricci and by Roy Arida and Pierre-Emmanuel Urcun for Stank. It was co-produced by Arte France Cinéma.[4][5] Pre-purchased by Arte and Ciné+, the film received the support of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Occitania regions, and the Gan Foundation. The film was also supported by the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC), in the form of an advance on receipts.[6]

Development

"Discovering this text triggered something in me. I found witnessing such tangible, manifest and yet elusive suffering very unnerving. Behind the monster the newspapers described at the time, there was a young man who had fought his whole life against himself, against his impulses and desires, against the "evil" within him. Suddenly, Bruno no longer fascinated me, but rather moved me."

—Vincent Le Port[7]

In November 2018, Vincent Le Port revealed that it took him 5 years to write the screenplay for his debut feature film, which would be titled Bruno Reidal. It is based on the true story of a 17-year-old peasant who, in 1905, murdered and beheaded a 13-year-old child in the forest bordering the village of Raulhac (Cantal).[8][9] Le Port first discovered the story in 2011 in Stéphane Bourgoin's book Serial Killers. Le Port explained: "The news story and the person of Bruno immediately fascinated me, as well as the time period and unusual geographical location, the atrocity of the murder which contrasted with the image that everyone had of Bruno (that of a good student, pious, shy, weak), and also a rather inexplicable paradox, namely that the assassin apparently had no remorse, but that he had nevertheless given himself up to the authorities.[10][7]

In developing the film's screenplay, Vincent Le Port performed archival research, diving into the papers of Alexandre Lacassagne, a forensic physician who founded a school of modern criminology in Lyon.[11] The real name of Bruno Reidal, which is a pseudonym coined by Lacassagne,[11] was Jean-Marie Bladier.[9] Lacassagne interviewed Bladier and took his testimony.[11] Le Port focused heavily on the memoirs Bladier wrote in jail,[7] which totaled around 100 pages. Approximately seven or eight pages were used in the film, which was further reduced during the production process. Le Port edited the pages to cut out repetition, and was forced to remove some elements that would have been too expensive to stage.[12]

Casting

Le Port and casting director Bahijja El Amrani spent months 8 months searching for the three actors needed to portray Bruno at different ages.[13] They held a casting session for non-professional actors, as they preferred to "find them in local, rural surroundings." However, the session resulted in the casting of only the youngest of the boys, Alex Fanguin, who plays Bruno at the age of six.[12] Fanguin was chosen because he "brought the harshness of this end of the 19th century" and had a "singular and enigmatic gaze." Le Port described Roman Villedieu, who plays Bruno at age 10, as the most "contemporary" of the three.[13]

Le Port became acquainted with Dimitri Doré, who plays Bruno at age 17, through the actor Jean-Luc Vincent, who portrays the doctor Lacassagne. Vincent had seen Doré perform in a play, and advised Le Port to consider him for the role. Le Port was impressed with Doré for being "exactly the same height and weight as the real Bruno Reidal, his high-pitched voice was exactly what I had in mind, the fact that he had never acted in the cinema appealed to me."[13][12]

Filming

Filming took place between 10 July and 21 August 2019,[6] between the communes of Campouriez, Thérondels (Aveyron) and Jabrun (Cantal), as well as Autun (Saône-et-Loire), Magnac-Laval, Montrol-Sénard and the forest of Saint-Léger-la-Montagne (Haute-Vienne).[14][15] Filming took place again in Aveyron, between 11 and 20 December 2019,[16] including in Rodez and at the Saint-Sauveur monastery in Villefranche-de-Rouergue.[2][17]

Music

The film's soundtrack features works by composer Olivier Messiaen, including "Louange à l'Éternité de Jésus".[18] According to La Libre, Messiaen's compositions "reinforce the feeling of mystery and unease as we enter the mind of the character."[1]

Release

The film was selected as a special screening in the Critics' Week section at the 74th Cannes Film Festival,[5][19] where it had its world premiere on 12 July 2021.[20][21] It had its theatrical release in France through Capricci on 23 March 2022.[22] International sales are handled by Indie Sales.[4] It was released by the independent Canadian distributor Maison 4:3.[23]

Reception

Critical response

Bruno Reidal received an average rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars on the French website AlloCiné, based on 27 reviews.[24]

Reviewing the film following its Cannes premiere, Luc Chessel of Libération called it a "pretty incredible film: first, with a diabolical frankness, which strikes as mastery and commands our admiration, but also, as it progresses, reveals itself much more devious than it seems."[11] Voici described it as a "gripping, awkward and masterful debut feature." Sophie Avon of Sud Ouest wrote that the film has a "sharp beauty that mixes the savagery of the act and the splendor of nature, the atrocity of murder and the fragility of childhood."[25] The film's staging was praised by Stéphanie Belpêche of Le Journal du Dimanche,[26] Thomas Bauras of Première[27] and by Emily Barnett of Marie Claire, the latter of whom wrote, "The pictorial and ultra-precise staging dazzles with its virtuosity."[28] Marie José Sirach of L'Humanité wrote, "There is something fascinating in Vincent Le Port's filming. The beauty of this filmed primitive nature evokes the works of master painters. The compositions of groups, within the school, the family farm, the reconstructions of the black-and-white postcards of yesteryear [...] come as close as possible to the condition of the peasants of that time."[29]

The film was panned by The Playlist's Kevin Jagernauth, who criticized the character development of Bruno: "There is a certain horror about an otherwise banal adolescent who is capable of such harm, but Le Port's film is never insightful enough to draw that out, or rich enough to penetrate beyond its surface layer. It leaves us with a criminal portrait that, for all of its carefully selected hyperfocus, completely fails to see the big picture."[18] Olivier Delcroix of Le Figaro wrote, "Cold, fetishistic, tortured, this stiff psychiatric study is boring to the highest degree."[30]

Awards and nominations

Awards and nominations for Bruno Reidal
Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
Cannes Film Festival 17 July 2021 Caméra d'Or Vincent Le Port Nominated [31][32]
Queer Palm Vincent Le Port Nominated [33][34]
Angers European First Film Festival 30 January 2022 Jean Carmet Award Dimitri Doré Won [35]
Grand Prix du Jury Nominated [36]
Lumières Award 16 January 2023 Most Promising Actor Dimitri Doré Won [37]
Best First Film Nominated
Syndicat Français de la Critique de Cinéma 6 February 2023 Best First French Film Won [38]
César Awards 24 February 2023 Best First Feature Film Nominated [39]
Most Promising Actor Dimitri Doré Nominated

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Heyrendt, Hubert (3 March 2023). ""Bruno Reidal" : ce jeune séminariste de 17 ans vient avouer le meurtre sauvage d'un jeune garçon de 12 ans, qu'il a décapité..." La Libre (in French). Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  2. 1 2 Bessou, Marie-Christine (5 January 2020). "Décor d'un film sur un séminariste assassin". La Dépêche (in French). Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  3. ↑ "Bruno Reidal, Confessions of a Murderer (2021)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 Keslassy, Elsa (7 June 2021). "Cannes' Critics' Week Title 'Bruno Reidal – Confession of a Murderer' Boarded by Indie Sales (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  5. 1 2 "Bruno Reidal Bruno Reidal, Confession of a Murderer". Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  6. 1 2 Lemercier, Fabien (5 August 2019). "Vincent Le Port now shooting Bruno Reidal". Cineuropa. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  7. 1 2 3 Tesson, Charles. "Interview with director Vincent Le Port". Semaine de la Critique. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  8. ↑ Barnérias, Isabelle (26 November 2018). "Les "gens du coin" recrutés pour tourner un film". La Montagne (in French). Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  9. 1 2 Ferenczi, Alexis (28 March 2022). "Bruno Reidal, itinéraire d'un ado meurtrier". Vice (in French). Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  10. ↑ "DOSSIER DE PRESSE" (PDF). Unifrance. p. 14. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Chessel, Luc (13 July 2021). "Bruno Reidal, la palme Doré". Libération (in French). Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  12. 1 2 3 Vena, Teresa (8 July 2021). "Vincent Le Port • Director of Bruno Reidal, Confessions of a Murderer". Cineuropa. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  13. 1 2 3 "DOSSIER DE PRESSE" (PDF). Unifrance. p. 30. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  14. ↑ "Ça s'est tourné près de chez vous : Bruno Reidal". Film France (in French). Archived from the original on 13 July 2021. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  15. ↑ "Sur le tournage de Bruno Reidal". Fondation Gan (in French). 12 September 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  16. ↑ "Vincent Le Port, lauréat 2018, poursuit le tournage de BRUNO REIDAL". Fondation Gan (in French). 5 December 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  17. ↑ "Des figurants recherchés pour le film "Bruno Reidal"". La Dépêche (in French). 28 November 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  18. 1 2 Jagernauth, Kevin (14 July 2021). "'Bruno Reidal, Confession Of A Murderer' Is An Empty, Misguided True Crime Provocation [Cannes Review]". The Playlist. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  19. ↑ Tartaglione, Nancy (7 June 2021). "Cannes: Critics' Week Unveils 60th Anniversary Lineup – Full List". Deadline. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  20. ↑ "Le goût de Cannes, jour 7". Vanity Fair (in French). France. 12 July 2021. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  21. ↑ Morel, Jean-Baptiste (13 July 2021). "Cannes 2021. Carnet de bord, jour 7 : une place en orchestre, Franck Dubosc et du punk". Actu.fr (in French). Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  22. ↑ "Bruno Reidal, De nos frères blessés, Plumes... : les sorties ciné de la semaine". CNC.fr (in French). 21 March 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  23. ↑ "Bruno Reidal, confession of a murderer". maison4tiers.com. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
  24. ↑ "Critiques Presse pour le film Bruno Reidal, confession d'un meurtrier". AlloCiné (in French). Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  25. ↑ Avon, Sophie (16 March 2022). "Cinéma : Bruno Reidal, petit paysan, séminariste et tueur". Sud Ouest (in French). Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  26. ↑ "Ambulance, La Brigade, Le Temps des secrets… Les critiques des films en salles cette semaine". Le Journal du Dimanche (in French). 19 March 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  27. ↑ Baurez, Thomas (22 March 2022). "Bruno Reidal : un premier film impressionnant sur un fait divers terrible [critique]". Première (in French). Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  28. ↑ Barnett, Emily; Coquebert, Vincent; Peiteado, Maëlys (14 March 2022). "Les films à ne pas louper au cinéma en mars". Marie Claire (in French). Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  29. ↑ Sirach, Marie-José (23 March 2022). "Bruno Reidal, paysan du Cantal, assassin ordinaire". L'Humanité (in French). Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  30. ↑ Delcroix, Olivier; Neuhoff, Éric; Sorin, Etienne; Harmange, Albane; Kennedy, Douglas (23 March 2022). "L'ombre d'un mensonge, Le Temps des secrets, Ambulance... Les films à voir ou à éviter cette semaine". Le Figaro (in French). Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  31. ↑ Goodfellow, Melanie (30 June 2021). "Cannes unveils Caméra d'Or jury, confirms 31 eligible first features". Screen International. Archived from the original on 14 July 2023. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  32. ↑ "Festival de Cannes : la Française Julia Ducournau remporte la Palme d'or pour son film Titane". Le Monde (in French). AFP. 17 July 2021. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  33. ↑ Lucia, Thibault (28 June 2021). "Cannes 2021 : les 26 films en compétition pour la Queer Palm". Les Inrockuptibles (in French). Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  34. ↑ "Festival de Cannes : La Fracture de Catherine Corsini, Queer Palm 2021". Le Figaro (in French). AFP. 17 July 2021. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  35. ↑ Courbin, Paul (31 January 2022). "Voici le palmarès des Premiers Plans d'Angers 2022". Les Inrockuptibles (in French). Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  36. ↑ "Les films "bretons" à l'honneur au Festival Premiers Plans d'Angers". cinema.bretagne.bzh (in French). 13 January 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  37. ↑ Goodfellow, Melanie (16 January 2023). "Dominik Moll's 'The Night Of The 12th' & Albert Serra's 'Pacification' Lead Prizes At French Lumière Awards". Deadline. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  38. ↑ Vaz, Robin (7 February 2023). "Le Syndicat de la Critique récompense "Bruno Reidal" et "Pacifiction"". Les Inrockuptibles (in French). Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  39. ↑ Jamet, Constance (25 January 2023). "César: La Nuit du 12, En Corps, L'Innocent, en tête des nominations". Le Figaro (in French). Retrieved 27 January 2023.
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