“Libre” by Mélanie Laurent on Prime Video is freely inspired by the life of “Arsène Lupine of jewelry stores”

CINEMA – Novels, comics and now true stories, Mélanie Laurent has often been inspired by basic material to make her films. Libre, its new adaptation available on Prime Video this Friday, November 1, borrows freely to the life of the famous robber Bruno Sulak.

With Lucas Bravo (Gabriel de Emily in Paris) in the main role, the director retraces the game of cat and mouse which took place in the early 80s between the bandit and the commissioner George Moréas (played by Yvan Attal), while emphasizing the story he had with his lover (played by Léa Luce Busato), without forgetting his friendships in the world of banditry.

At the time, Bruno Sulak played on his ideal son-in-law physique to better hide the handgun he held in his hand when he asked the cashiers to give him the store's receipts or the jewelers not to move during that he was collecting their goods. Born to a father of Polish origin, the famous French robber was born on November 6, 1955 in Algeria, before his family settled on the other side of the Mediterranean in Marseille.

In the film as in life, Bruno Sulak is a former legionnaire. But Mélanie Laurent's latest achievement does not mention his status as an army deserter which made him decide to begin his first series of supermarket robberies at the end of 1978, according to Le Figaro.

His friends, his love, his troubles

In LibreBruno Sulak is touring the stores assisted by Drago (Steve Tientcheu) but especially Annie (Léa Luce Busato). The young woman, who serves as their driver, is addicted to adrenaline but perhaps even more to the spirit of freedom that her lover embodies. She accompanies him into the microcosm of banditry, with Drago's wife, Marika (Léo Chalié), as her only friend.

The inspiration behind Annie is that of Thalie, the lover of the real Bruno Sulak, who collaborated on the film according to production notes. She follows the robber until his run that began in July 1982, when he escaped from a train during a transfer between Montpellier and Lyon. Two years before, he was suspected of having made his former cellmate Jean-Louis Segreto escape, as confided by George Moréas in his blog on The World in 2007.

Because in the early 1980s, this former police commissioner was the robber's best enemy. He then headed the Central Office for the Suppression of Banditry, responsible for tracking down Bruno Sulak. And in the film as in life, the two men opposed each other on several occasions.

The game of cat and mouse

After his escape in 1982, Bruno Sulak and his new friend Steve (Rasha Bukvic) now attack jewelry stores, selling their loot directly to their insurance companies. They do not hesitate to maintain contact with Georges Moréas, as the latter once again recalled in The World a few days before the release of the fiction Libre. The former cop, consultant on the film, collaborated with Mélanie Laurent and Lucas Bravo to evoke his memories of this time, as well as his meetings with Bruno Sulak.

After the stores, Bruno Sulak tackles the jewelry stores in the company of Steve known as “Le Yougo”.

If he still calls him “thug” In the production notes, George Moréas had tied a “form of respect” for the non-violent method of Bruno Sulak's heists, which earned him comparisons with Arsène Lupin. The assassination of Radisa “Steve” Jovanović (real name Novica Zivkovic), transcribed in the film, heralds the beginning of an era where firearms rule the roost and break down ” codes » tacit understandings that exist between gangsters and police officers according to the former commissioner.

He also resigned from the police the year Bruno Sulak died after yet another attempt to escape from Fleury-Mérogis, with the proven complicity of two prison guards. If the family has always contested the theory of an accidental fall put forward by the prison establishment, the director has clearly made her choice between the two hypotheses.

An adaptation called into question by the family

In an open letter posted on social networks, also sent by email to the editorial staff of HuffPost, Pauline Sulak disputes use of name “Sulak and the first names of Bruno and his entourage”making it known that “this biopic is unauthorized” by the family.

Bruno Sulak's sister also demands that “if someone considers that the life of another is worth a film, with humility he asks for the agreement of the family, the story told requires the view of the family” to adapt “the life of someone by respecting their life, their death and their family and not “taking inspiration” and betraying, hurting, lying under the pretext of “creation”. »

She also announces the preparation of the documentary Rape of memories who is going “try to list and then meet people who have spoken out, like us, against the use made of the life of their loved one” and wishes the tabling of a bill “going in this direction with the support of a member of parliament”.

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