The film is based on real events be tween the years 1978-1980. Theo Grangier, a man without education, with no parents nor family, is involved in the robbery along with two recidivists. But the policeman is killed during a robbery. But Theo is the only one who is arrested and charged with murdering an officer of laws, even though the other two perpetrators are not found and Theo is not conclusively proved to be a murderer. He is later sentenced to death. The trial galvanizes the French society - Jean-Paul Sartre comes out publicly in favor of Theo Grunge...
Acting
Timsit's Théo: broken, inarticulate, devastatingly human.
Writing
Sartre's cameo as celebrity savior — deliciously uncomfortable.
Director
Pierre Boutron
Patrick Timsit
Théo Grangier
Régis Romele
Policeman
Frédéric Pierrot
Gendarme Thierry Deville
Isabelle Gélinas
Me Sophie Charpentier
Marie Kremer
Chantal Laborde
Joseph Malerba
Roger Lemonnier
Julien Cafaro
Head Prison Guard
Olivier Claverie
Commander Gendarmerie
Franck Beckmann
Commander Gendarmerie
Fabien Baïardi
Policeman
Bernard Malaka
Investigating judge
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The real Théo Grangier was executed in 1979. This TV movie aired 33 years later, reigniting debates France thought it had buried.
Sartre's real 1979 op-ed called Théo 'the proletariat itself' — the film weaponizes intellectual condescension as its own character.
FR
