the trial of the case on which the film is inspired opens, with some differences compared to the fiction

JUSTICE – This time, it’s for real. Sixteen people must be tried from this Monday, May 6 before the Assize Court of Aix-en-Provence, in Bouches-du-Rhône, for the double assassination of two figures of Corsican organized crime at the airport of Bastia Poretta on December 5, 2017. A resounding affair that inspired Borgoreleased in theaters only two weeks ago.

The film by Stéphane Demoustier (director of The Girl with the Bracelet, released in 2019) recounts the arrival in Corsica of Melissa, a young prison guard who comes to settle on the island with her husband and two children to make a new start. At Borgo prison, in Upper Corsica, she builds relationships with bandits and ends up getting drawn into a mechanism that will put her in danger.

This role, played on screen by Hafsia Herzi (nominated for the 2024 César for The Rapture), is inspired by the (true) story of Cathy Sénéchal, “maton” in Borgo and accused in particular of murder by an organized gang in the case judged from this Monday. She is suspected of having given “the kiss of death” to Jean-Luc Codaccioni, one of the two victims at the airport, by kissing him that day in December 2017, with the aim of designating him to of the shooter, who will execute him a few moments later – and will also kill Antoine Quilichini (known as “Tony”), who came to welcome the first.

Lawyers denounce the release of the film before the trial

The lawyers of Cathy Sénéchal and certain indictees did not wait for the film to be broadcast on April 17 to denounce the concomitance between this release date and the start of the trial, fifteen days apart. He is “particularly regrettable that a work of fiction is taken over, even before the trial begins”, of a file which “is not a show or entertainment”regretted to the AFP, at the end of 2023, Me Julien Pinelli, counsel for an indictment. “I wonder in particular about the influence that this film could have on the jurors and magistrates who will in the near future have the duty to judge our clients”he still feared in the columns of Corsica-Morning.

A criticism brushed aside by the director. “The judicial calendar does not necessarily correspond with the economic imperatives linked to the programming of a film”recalls Stéphane Demoustier to Corsica-Morning, emphasizing that “the film does not embrace the point of view of the thugs and is not hagiographic towards the prison guard”.

Stéphane Demoustier, who had the idea for this scenario while reading a long article published in The world in 2019, claims on the contrary to have “tried to forget this news item” For “embrace fiction” and dive into “the mystery of how one can, in a few months, go from an ordinary life to a criminal destiny”. “I didn’t do an investigation”he insists to AFP.

A “maton” far from reality

And this results in some differences between news items and fiction. Unlike the real Cathy, 41 years old at the time of the events and mother of five children, the Melissa in the film, ten years younger, is of North African origin and in a relationship with a black man (played by Moussa Mansaly) , victim of racism from a Corsican neighbor. A story within a story, imagined for Borgojust like the scenes telling of this couple trying to find themselves in their new life in Corsica.

” When [Stéphane] Demoustier offered me the scenario, he told me “it’s inspired by a news story but it’s very far away, don’t look [d’informations à ce sujet]”said Hafsia Herzi on the set of C the weekly. I looked anyway, but there wasn’t much information. I tried to make my own film. »

On screen, his character is therefore far removed from the real one. “maton”as confirmed by a guard at Borgo prison who plays a role in the film. ” He knew [Cathy Sénéchal] and told me that she really had nothing to do with the character that [je joue] »confided Hafsia Herzi.

Another notable liberty taken by the director: the double assassination takes place, in the fiction, at the Ajaccio airport, the city where Melissa’s family has set down, while the real news item took place in Bastia and surroundings.

“It’s nothing, it’s for a film!” »

Beyond these gaps with reality, Stéphane Demoustier wanted “film a territory and those who live there” while being as fair as possible. And it began with the actors chosen to play the bandits of unit 2 of Borgo prison, all Corsican and having, for the most part, never acted in the cinema. “They have a way of expressing themselves, of carrying themselves, that belongs to them. We couldn’t pretend”explains the director in an interview with the CNC.

Among these actors, some have stayed within the walls of the Corsican prison. A precious mine of information for the filmmaker who did not have authorization to film in Borgo and had to recreate it in an abandoned prison in Compiègne, in Hauts-de-France.

The director also relied on Me Pascal-Pierre Garbarini, known for having defended Yvan Colonna but also Tariq Ramadan and Alain Delon. In addition to playing Melissa’s lawyer on screen, he directly participated in writing the screenplay for Borgo. “In addition to my Corsican origins, my job as a lawyer allows me to know the world of organized crime quite well”he estimates to the CNC.

Stéphane Demoustier also wanted to keep a significant detail from the 2017 settling of scores, which alone sums up the fragile balance between this affair and fiction. Leaving the Bastia airport square after the assassinations, an accomplice of the killer said to the witnesses, as if to reassure them: “It’s nothing, it’s for a film!” »

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