does the film faithfully retrace the investigation into the attacks of November 13, 2015?

On November 13, 2015, attacks hit Paris and the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, killing 130 people. An anti-terrorism investigation is immediately launched to find the fleeing terrorists. This true story, still fresh in the memories of many French people, gave birth to a film released in 2022, seven years later. Directed by Cédric Jimenez, November does not focus so much on the attacks as on the police investigation between Paris, Brussels and Morocco and the five days which followed the tragedy.

In the casting, the director of North Bac is surrounded by the cream of French cinema: Jean Dujardin, Anaïs Demoustier, Sandrine Kiberlain, Jérémie Renier, Lyna Khoudri and Raphaël Quenard are in the cast of this film inspired by real, and especially very recent, events. All the characters of the investigators were certainly invented to protect their identity, but “they are all inspired by real people”, reveals Cédric Jimenez.

The director as well as the screenwriter Olivier Demanger also met some of the police officers involved in the investigation of the attacks of November 13 and members of the anti-terrorist sub-directorate (Sdat), in order to make the film as authentic as it is precise. . “I transcribed their actions, the way these units work… tells the filmmaker to Allociné. They of course did not give me access to all their files but everything relating to the operation, the organization chart and the The way they operate is true.

What is true, what is false?

November traces the five days of investigation which followed the attacks of November 13, 2015. If the screenwriters have documented the investigation, the police officers nevertheless remain bound by the secrecy of the investigation. Several plot elements are changed. This is the case of false leads pursued by the Sdat, and in particular the arrest of an infiltrator or the arrest of a cocaine trafficker. The screenwriter Olivier Demangel explains to Le Parisien that it is “a mixture of several stories of false leads in the investigations of November 13 or the Charlie Hebdo attacks”, mixed so that people wrongly arrested cannot sue the film for defamation. Furthermore, the various scenes in which the procedure was not respected were invented, reports Le Parisien.

However, elements of the film are indeed faithful to reality. This is the case of the scene of the Raid assault or the fact that it is Samia’s testimony in November (known under the false name of Sonia in reality), which helped unblock the investigation and reveal where Abdelhamid Abaaoud was hiding. The real Sonia, however, criticized the film for making her appear as a veiled woman, which according to her would reflect “religious convictions and a jihadist ideology comparable to that of the perpetrators of the November 13 attacks”. A warning banner was added at the end of the film to clarify the situation at his request.

Synopsis – Several attacks hit Paris on November 13, 2015, which had the effect of putting the anti-terrorist sub-directorate on alert, headed by Héloïse and her right-hand man Fred. They must manage a completely new situation and find these fleeing terrorists as quickly as possible. Phones are ringing in every direction, clues are flying but the team must keep a cool head and not let emotions take over. But disagreements appear between the rather litigious “olders” and the younger ones who work by feeling. Until a phone call which changes the course of the investigation…