In Alexia, autopsy of a femicideThomas Chagnaud chooses to put the victim at the center of the story.
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Announced at the start of the September school year, Intimate conviction finally arrives on the airwaves of RTL TVI. Presented by Julie Denayer and judge Denis Goeman, the magazine looks back on the most significant Belgian and French cases by offering exclusive testimonies from the protagonists. As a first subject, the channel chose to return to the Alexia Daval affair, the first murder qualified as femicide in France. This is not an own production but a documentary previously broadcast on Canal+ and divided into four parts.
Why so long? After all, with the media coverage of the affair and the numerous documentaries produced, we have the impression of knowing everything on the subject. Except no. Nourished by the testimonies, we relive the disappearance, the murder and the lies of Jonathann Daval through the prism of Alexia’s loved ones.
A desire of the director Thomas Chagnaud who had previously written a book with the parents (Alexia, our daughter). Questioned by France Info, he explained: “I’m tired of news stories focusing exclusively on the killers. Behind the killers, there are families, there are victims and that’s what matters to me”. The opportunity also to re-establish some truths about a woman soiled even after death, accused for example of being violent with her husband.
A production and an angle that does not please everyone, like Jonathann Daval’s lawyer, Maître Randall Schwerdorffer. Guest in Voices of crime (available on Spotify), he laments: “Today I have the impression that Alexia is becoming a sort of small business where everyone feels they have the right to make money. […] We are told that it is for Alexia, for her memory. Alexia is dead, she won’t see the show. It’s a money story. We make money. The Canal+ series is not something free”.
Broadcast on November 12 at 8:25 p.m. on RTL tvi
Belgium
