An Alibi

Airing times

Interview with Orso Miret: Returning to the Screen with An Alibi

Would You Lie for a Friend? 5 Films That Explore the Moral Cost of Loyalty

An Alibi (Un alibi, 2022)
France

Director: Orso Miret
Cast: Pascal Demolon, Annelise Hesme, Yannick Choirat
Genre: Thriller
Length: 91’

Presentation:

What begins as a joyful reunion among lifelong friends takes a harrowing turn when a grisly discovery forces them to choose between the truth and the kind of lie that could destroy them all. Eurochannel premieres An Alibi.

An Alibi, the gripping French television film directed by Orso Miret, wastes no time plunging viewers into a nightmare scenario. On the surface, it’s a quiet birthday gathering among lifelong friends—Maude, Pierre, and Tom—invited to celebrate Lucie’s birthday. But the moment they step inside Max and Lucie’s home, the celebration turns into a chilling crime scene. Lucie is dead, and Max, her husband, is frozen in shock beside her body. His hands are stained, his story shaky. Everything about the scene screams guilt.

But here’s where things get complicated. Instead of calling the police and letting justice take its course, the group—bound by decades of shared memories and unquestioned loyalty—makes a fateful decision. They choose to protect Max. Not just emotionally, but legally. They lie. They fabricate An Alibi. Because they believe him. Or at least, they want to.

What follows is a taut psychological drama where the lines between truth and loyalty blur with each passing minute. As the police investigation, led by the sharp-eyed Lieutenant Garnier, closes in, the threads of the friends’ deception begin to fray. The stress of the lie, the fear of discovery, and the creeping possibility that Max might not be so innocent after all slowly poison their bond. Paranoia sets in. Doubts multiply. Whispers of betrayal echo louder than the original scream of shock.

At its core, An Alibi is more than a murder mystery—it’s a study of the human psyche under pressure. The film probes the fragile balance between friendship and self-preservation. How far would you go to protect someone you love? And if you cross that line, can you ever come back?

The performances are razor-sharp, particularly Pascal Demolon as Max, who plays the grieving husband with unsettling ambiguity. Annelise Hesme, Grégori Derangère, and Yannick Choirat bring emotional depth and tension to their roles as friends wrestling with a moral crisis. Aurélia Petit’s portrayal of the relentless investigator adds a ticking-clock intensity to the unfolding drama.

What makes An Alibi unforgettable is not just its suspense, but the moral unease it leaves behind. This isn’t a film about finding the killer. It’s about what happens to good people when truth becomes too dangerous to face—and the devastating cost of a single, desperate choice.

Synopsis:
A group of friends gathers for a birthday, where they discover the birthday girl dead and her husband kneeling by her corpse. Convinced of his innocence, they make a pact and become his alibi. Disturbing secrets quickly unravel as police suspicions grow.

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