This Monday, September 12, 2022, TF1 is broadcasting the event TV movie “Le Mystère Daval”. A fiction that provokes the anger of some residents of Gray, who no longer wish to hear about the case.
The Daval Mystery : a fiction deemed realistic
On the night of October 27 to 28, 2017, Jonathann Daval kills his partner Alexia. The body of the 29-year-old young woman was found partly charred in a wood in Esmoulins, in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The investigation reveals that the victim was beaten and strangled. On January 30, 2018, after more than a day in police custody, her husband made his confession. In 2020 it is sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment.
Based on the book The Alexia Daval Affair – The real story by Laurent Briot and Christophe Dubois, The Daval Mystery comes back to this feminicide. Michèle Bernier, Jérôme Anger, Liam Baty, Maud Baecker, Vanessa Guide and Thierry Neuvic form the cast of this program.
Christophe Lamotte’s feature film was deemed very realistic by people who were involved or who participated in the investigation. Warrant Officer Adeline, who welcomed Jonathann Daval when he came to report the disappearance of his wife to the gendarmerie, told the Parisian :
I had the impression that the director had been part of the investigation unit.
Commander of the Besançon research section, Colonel Raguin for his part assured:
On screen, we sometimes have the impression of rereading the minutes or reliving the hearings. There is a fictionalized part, very successful, but it is quite faithful.
The soldier also claimed that “the most difficult audience to get on board is the one who has experienced it”.
Angry residents of Gray
A finding that echoes the words of some residents of Gray, the scene of this highly publicized affair. Before the broadcast of the TV movie, France Blue went to collect the reactions of the Graylois. One of them assures that he will not look The Daval Mysterybeing part of his desire to move on :
Enough of this story. The same thing happens everywhere in France and yet we don’t make a big deal out of it.
Another resident says:
I’m angry, ask all the Graylois. We can’t take this case anymore. It has to stop, it’s all about money.
While a craftsman also says he “can’t take it anymore”, the broadcast of the TV movie comes “too soon” according to another person, who believes that “crime films” are usually made “20 years later”. The feeling of weariness is therefore clearly felt in Gray.
