“The dream life of others”, which is broadcast this Wednesday evening on France 2, is freely adapted from the Flactif affair, a news story which hit the headlines in 2003. Out of jealousy, a man had killed a woman in cold blood. entire family.
This Wednesday, February 28 at 9:10 p.m., France 2 broadcasts The Dream Life of Others, a dramatic TV film starring Charlie Bruneau, Arthur Dupont and Caroline Anglade. Written by Didier Le Pêcheur and Delphine Labouret, this gripping fiction follows Franck and Karine, a couple who decide to leave everything to live in a chalet in the mountains.
Unfortunately, upon their arrival, they discover that the construction of their dream home has not been completed. Estelle and Patrick Fleutiot, the couple of developers who gave them the chalet, offered them an alternative by upgrading them to a high-end chalet.
A solution that allows owners, who are struggling financially, to save a little time. But little by little, the couple of tenants, who are immersed in a world at odds with their own, begin to feel a consuming jealousy towards the developers, who apparently lead a “dream life”. Between the two families, relations will gradually deteriorate to the point of tragedy…
A TV movie adapted from a true story
If the story of The Dream Lives of Others is not unknown to you, it is because the fiction is freely adapted from a sordid news story that occurred a little over 20 years ago. The TV film is in fact inspired by the Flactif affair, also known as the “Grand-Bornand Killing”, a criminal affair which hit the headlines following the disappearance of Xavier Flactif, a real estate developer, from his wife, Graziella Ortolano, and their three children Grégory, 7 years old, Lætitia, 9 years old and Sarah, 10 years old.
It is April 12, 2003. Mario, 14 years old, Graziella’s son, is going to Grand-Bornand to spend the Easter holidays. On site, he discovers that the chalet, normally full of life, is empty. The family vehicle, a large red 4×4, is not parked in front of the chalet.
No disorder is to be deplored, everything has been tidy. At first, the police thought it was a road accident, but their search turned up nothing. On April 22, 2003, a judicial investigation was officially opened for “kidnapping and sequestration”.
The chalet was then combed by the police, but nothing suspicious was discovered. Very quickly the hypothesis of a flight abroad was favored. Xavier Flactif indeed had major financial problems, and he was heavily in debt. The family vehicle was also found in the parking lot of Geneva international airport.
If this hypothesis of the escape is considered by the investigators, they do not rule out the criminal trail. On May 5, the prosecutor announced that traces of blood, containing the DNA of the 5 members of the Flactif family, as well as unknown DNA, had been found in the chalet.
Pieces of baby teeth and a gun casing were also discovered in the chalet. Investigators are now convinced that they are dealing with a crime.
Nicolas Robin – FTV.
A case of jealousy
It was not until July 8, 2003 that the DNA found in the chalet was identified. It belongs to David Hotyat, one of Xavier Flactif’s tenants. From the first hours of his custody, he confessed to the quintuple murder and led investigators to the woods of Thônes where he cremated the bodies.
Driven by jealousy, he declares that he alone decimated the family on April 11, 2003. He shot the father with a revolver, then killed the woman and the three children with sharp objects. He then asked his wife, Alexandra Lefèvre, and a couple of friends, the Haremzas, for help.
During their trial in 2006, Stéphane Heremza, Isabelle Haremza and Alexandra Lefèvre received respectively 15 years, 7 years and 10 years of imprisonment. For his part, David Hotyat is sentenced to life imprisonment with a security sentence of 22 years.