Libre, Mélanie Laurent’s new film about Bruno Sulak

With Libre, Mélanie Laurent revisits the life of bank robber Bruno Sulak. In this film, love becomes the centerpiece of a story usually dominated by male figures. Lucas Bravo and Lea Luce Busato play an outlaw couple with a tragic destiny.

A story inspired by real events

Libre follows the life of Bruno Sulak, a French bank robber of the 1980s, adapted from Philippe Jaenada’s book Sulak. Mélanie Laurent, fascinated by this character, moves away from the classic portrait of the criminal to explore Sulak’s poetic side. Far from violence, Sulak is presented as a freedom-loving romantic, a sensitive anti-hero who stands out from the usual figures of banditry.

The film focuses on the passionate relationship between Bruno, played by Lucas Bravo, and Lea, played by Lea Luce Busato. This intense relationship thrives on the constant instability and danger in which the characters live. Mélanie Laurent describes this romance as a love that resists time and the fear of death. This duo evokes the immortal love of a Bonnie and Clyde, united in their flight and marginality.

Bruno Sulak, under the director’s direction, bears no resemblance to classic film criminals. Mélanie Laurent describes him as a poet, an anarchist, in search of renewal in the 1980s. Unlike the gangsters in La French or Mesrine, Sulak rejects violence. He prefers a life of poetic deviance, where every robbery becomes a game.

Lucas Bravo and Lea Luce Busato, a duo à la Bonnie and Clyde

Known for his role in Emily in Paris, Lucas Bravo reveals a new face in Libre, that of a complex, unpredictable man. Laurent explains his pleasure in transforming this actor, generally perceived as a charmer, into a dramatic character. Opposite him, Lea Luce Busato plays Léa, Bruno’s partner in crime, both lover and accomplice in the robberies. This role reveals a strong, determined actress, albeit one who often takes a back seat to Sulak.

Marginality as obsession

With Libre, Laurent explores familiar themes in his work: freedom and life outside the norm. This film, less personal than her previous ones, remains an opportunity for Laurent to deepen her technique, while leaving room for her convictions. Through characters like Sulak, she questions the place of marginality in a normative society.

Mélanie Laurent, who navigates between independent films and major productions, never abandons her auteur vision. She considers herself free in her direction, asserting that an “auteur film” is above all a film that reflects the vision of its creator. Libre thus becomes a work where drama and gentleness coexist, carried by a subtle soundtrack, and closing with a striking scene that celebrates freedom in the face of convention.

Also read: “The Substance”, a harrowing film starring Demi Moore