Vincent Garenq is André Cayatte's psychic son and proof positive that this much maligned director was actually very important ,weren't it only because he was ,in 1953, the first director to denounce death penalty and the unspeakable ceremony of the executions in his land .
Although fictionalized ,Garenq films are often based on actual events ,news items which were widely talked about in his native France;in 2011 ,"présumé innocent" depicted a situation quite similar to that of " le mensonge" ; later in "au nom de ma fille ,he already used highly talented Daniel Auteuil.
It was only natural he chose the great thespian for his miniseries: the actor,never ,never overplaying ,gives an extremely restrained performance , the most adequate move when you are overtaken by events, and when your grandson you love dearly accuses you of the worst crime (rape); Auteuil dominates the movie ,one can feel his agony ,his despair all along his interminable martyrdom which spanned a decade ;there are flaws :the character of the father is not developed enough and too much time is given to the lawyer who has a tendency to overplay ; the story of the child-turned-young man is sometimes confused .
But Daniel Auteuil makes it all worthwhile .and Garenq's charge against the preposterous side of French justice -which former collegue Cayatte (himself a lawyer) often denounced -, against psychology which is not always ,as everybody knows,an exact science ,all this is convincing .
