Justice must be done to “Gentlemen of the jury”. Exactly half a century ago, the novelist Alain Franck and the director André Michel signed the first in a series of 44 TV films recounting legal cases in the form of an exact reconstruction of a criminal trial. Madelen invites you to discover, or rediscover the beginning of “The Lusanger Affair”, broadcast on January 16, 1974 at 8:30 p.m. on the second channel.
Frédéric Pottecher, the most famous legal chronicler and Pierre Billard, creator, on the radio, of “Masters of Mystery” sign a scenario and dialogues inspired by an authentic news item: Solange Lusanger, 24 years old, is said to have killed her friend Micheline Frugères, a neurotic and depressed young woman. Having learned that she was expecting a child from Philippe Castet, the man she loved, the accused allegedly made her take a large dose of medication diluted in alcohol.
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If the roles of magistrates, lawyers, witnesses and members of the prosecution are played by authentic actors, the nine jurors who, at the time of the verdict, must say “innocent or guilty?” », are viewers chosen at random. Some are sometimes challenged by the defense or the attorney general, from the opening of the debates. The others take their seats having agreed to play the game desired by the screenwriters: only discovering the affair during the trial. In exchange, they were assured that at the end of the pleadings, at the time of deliberation, they would speak freely according to their personal convictions.
The day after the first broadcast, the press hailed an experiment that journalists called “truth TV.” They take the opportunity to recall the pioneering show of the genre, “In your soul and conscience”. Between 1955 and 1969, Pierre Dumayet exposed, on the first channel, major past and judged cases illustrated by archive images, then proposed to the defense to plead them again. “Gentlemen of the jury”, whose formula is inspired by programs present for several years on American and Canadian channels, goes much further. The debates are led by actresses known to viewers for their leading or supporting roles. Among them will be, over the years, Jean Mercure, founder of the Théâtre de la Ville, Jean Topart, Suzanne Flon, Michel Etcheverry, Paul Crauchet and Roland Bertin.
Most of the subjects are inspired by news items which, in their time, hit the headlines: a son from a good family in bad company who transformed him into a hostage taker, a worker in a factory who pleads manslaughter after killing a foreman who tried to abuse her, the fatal attack committed on a grocer by two boys in their twenties, who entered the store with the intention of stealing the day’s takings, and other subjects resolutely from everyday life.
The process is always the same. The entry of the accused is followed by that of the Court and the calling of lawyers, witnesses and jurors by the President. The pace of the technical explanations and legal details, which may seem particularly slow on the other side of the screen, is modeled on the solemn reality of the moment, and adds to the veracity of the whole. The last minutes are devoted to the deliberations of the jurors, to which viewers are invited, and to the reading of the judgment in front of the accused. The adventure of “Gentlemen of the Jury” ended in 1986. The idea was taken up three years later in “Tribunal”, in the form of 26-minute films, without the intervention of viewers. Michèle Laroque, Jean-Marie Bigard, Kad Merad, Marion Game and many others will participate during the five years of filming. Other series inspired by the same universe followed, including “Case of Divorce”, and “Family Affairs”. Subjects more present than ever in cultural news through two films released just a few months ago, The Goldman Trial and Anatomy of a Fall, of which the public was the sole judge.
