The Art of Crime

A picture of Anne de Bretagne is stolen from the château d'Amboise and there's a body in the garden. A rather surprising theft, as the picture appears to be worth little. The first ever case for Antoine Verlay and art history specialist Florence Chassagne.

Under the stolen portrait of Anne de Bretagne was a forgotten painting by Leonardo da Vinci. This is the theory emerging from Florence's research. More down-to-earth and less attuned to the artistic side of the investigation, Antoine focuses on the murder in the garden.

The Central Office for Combating Trafficking in Cultural Goods is investigating the murder of a student during a party organized in the basements of a prestigious Parisian art school. Florence Chassagne is contacted by Commander Prado to help Antoine Verlay. Their collaboration hardly excites the young policeman. However, Florence sheds precious light during the first investigations. When it appears that the deceased had stolen two works by Watteau, his theory upsets Antoine's certainties. At the same time, Pierre Chassagne's difficulties increased. He then turns to his daughter, but she intends to protect herself now that she is beginning to overcome her recurring psychological difficulties ...

The investigation continues but the difference in approach between Florence and Antoine complicates the investigation. In addition, the presence of an ex-boyfriend of Florence only complicates the ongoing investigations. Did the victim lead a double existence? What criminal esthete could hold it against him to the point of cutting his throat at the foot of one of the major works of the Louvre? Engaged in his expeditious methods inherited from the PJ from which he was dismissed, Antoine stamps his feet. Little by little, in the corridors of the prestigious establishment, they discover a major clue ...

Delphine, an art historian, is uneasy during a visit to the Louvre Museum, during which specialists assess the degradation of the famous painting 'The Raft of the Medusa', by Théodore Géricault. She died before the arrival of help, her eyes fixed on the monumental canvas. While his divorce has just been pronounced, Antoine takes note of the file. Florence Chassagne, for her part, finishes a psychotherapy session during which she claims to have finally freed herself from all her phobias. Antoine takes him to the Louvre, to collect the first clues and testimonies. Florence knew the victim, who succumbed to poisoning ...

Florence and Verlay use Géricault's "Portraits of the Insane" to track down the killer. Directed by Eric Woreth, 2017.