Bruno Reidal: Confession of a Murderer (2022)

Interesting facts

• Filmed in: Aveyron, Haute-Loire, and Saône-et-Loire
• Awards: 0 · Nominations: 3

Bruno Reidal, subtitled Confession d'un meurtrier, is a 2021 French crime drama film written and directed by Vincent Le Port in his feature debut. 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.

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. 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.

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). Le Port first discovered the story in 2011 in Stéphane Bourgoin's book Serial Killers.

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. The real name of Bruno Reidal, which is a pseudonym coined by Lacassagne, was Jean-Marie Bladier. Lacassagne interviewed Bladier and took his testimony. Le Port focused heavily on the memoirs Bladier wrote in jail, which totaled around 100 pages.

Le Port and casting director Bahijja El Amrani spent months 8 months searching for the three actors needed to portray Bruno at different ages. 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.

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.

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