Re-Creation review: A compelling true crime dramatisation of the Ian Bailey trial that never was

Re-Creation sets out to imagine how Ian Bailey’s trial might have played out had he been tried in Ireland

Colm Meaney as Ian Bailey in Re-Creation.

Re-Creation

★★★★☆

Theatrical release

In 2019, Ian Bailey was tried in France – in absentia – and found guilty of the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier in rural West Cork in 1996.

Re-Creation (15A), which is co-written and directed by David Merriman and Jim Sheridan, sets out to imagine how Bailey’s trial might have played out had he been tried in Ireland.

Opening with a closing statement by the prosecuting barrister Hamilton Barnes (Aiden Gillen), who declares Bailey (Colm Meaney) guilty beyond any reasonable doubt, the story then adjourns to the jury room, where Juror 3 (John Connors) sets the tone by aggressively announcing his belief that the evidence establishes Bailey’s guilt. 

Declan Burke: "The characters and trial are both fictitious, but the evidence under examination is that which was presented against Ian Bailey in real life." Picture: Rich Gilligan.

Most of the other jury members seem to be in agreement, including Juror 1 (Jim Sheridan), who is serving as the jury foreman, but Juror 8 (Vicky Krieps) demurs and begins to argue that evidence of Bailey’s guilt is not sufficiently compelling.

It’s an intriguing premise, in that the characters and trial are both fictitious, but the evidence under examination is that which was presented against Ian Bailey in real life.

Complicating matters further is the way in which the embattled jurors gradually reveal their own backstories, which in turn clarify their respective stances – or, put another way, go some way towards explaining their biases and prejudices, benign or otherwise.

Declan Burke: "Complicating matters further is the way in which the embattled jurors gradually reveal their own backstories, which in turn clarify their respective stances."

The blueprint here is obviously Sidney Lumet’s seminal courtroom drama 12 Angry Men (1957), in which Henry Fonda, like Vicky Krieps, played ‘Juror 8’. 

Re-Creation similarly develops a claustrophobic, pressure-cooker environment as tempers boil over, revelations are confessed, and ghosts are exorcised, with John Connor particularly strong in the role of the dogmatic and self-righteous Juror 3.

It does seem a little odd, in context, that many of the points argued over by the jury members weren’t raised and clarified by Bailey’s defence during the preceding trial, but for the most part Re-Creation is a compelling true crime dramatisation of a trial that never was.