TF1 has decided to tackle one of the most significant criminal cases of recent years: the murder of Alexia Fouillot and the conviction of her husband, Jonathan Daval. In its back-to-school trailer, the channel unveiled the first images of its TV movie called Le Mystère Daval, which will retrace the events of this terrible tragedy. The fiction directed by Christophe Lamotte is based on the book The Alexia Daval Affair – the real story of Laurent Briot and Christophe Dubois, reports Télé 7 Jours.
Jonathann Daval strangled his wife Alexia on the night of October 27 to 28, 2017 at their home in Gray-la-Ville (Haute-Saône). The next day, he had carried his body into a wood before setting it on fire and raising the alarm, claiming that his wife had not returned from her jogging. Alexia’s body was found two days later.
For three months, Jonathann Daval had shown the face of a grieving widower in the media, before being confused by investigators and being sentenced to 25 years in prison. On the images unveiled by TF1, we can see that the fiction takes up one of the most striking scenes of this affair: the white march organized a few days after the death of Alexia. We can see her husband, devastated, supported by the parents of the young woman.
To embody Isabelle and Jean-Pierre Fouillot, Alexia’s parents, the production chose Michèle Bernier and Jérôme Anger, Doctor Sylvestre from France 3 in the 90s. Two young figures from TF1 had the heavy task of embodying the Daval couple: Liam Baty as Jonathann and Maud Baecker as the victim. The two actors were revealed by the series Tomorrow belongs to us.
In a tweet, TF1 specified that Le Mystère Daval would be broadcast on Monday September 12, 2022 at 9:10 p.m. The TV movie will be followed by a documentary “retracing the police custody of Jonathann Daval minute by minute”. The man was arrested on January 29, 2018, three months after Alexia’s death. After 30 hours of interrogation and faced with the body of evidence incriminating him, he finally admitted the facts before being indicted.
