Even with the advancement of time, the murder of the French Sophie Toscan du Plantier, in 1996, remains a mystery. In 2022, the Netflix documentary Sophie: A Murder In West Cork was made available on the platform 2022, rescuing public interest in the crime. Sophie’s body, who was spending a few days alone at her holiday home in the isolated city of Cork, Ireland, was found on a road near the residence. She was attacked with stones and was clearly trying to escape the killer. However, without sufficient witnesses or evidence collected at the scene, the result of the investigations is inconclusive, causing diplomatic problems between Ireland and France, in addition to a lot of pain for the family members.

One of those obsessed with the story is the award-winning director Jim Sheridan, who signs a documentary about the death of the producer, Murder at the Cottage: The Search for Justice for Sophie, and who remains committed to discovering the truth behind the violent and inexplicable death of the producer. The main suspect, for Sophie’s family the culprit without a doubt, is the British journalist Ian Bailey, whose testimony is flawed, but who has only circumstantial evidence against him. Ian, who lives in Cork, would have been one of the first to arrive at the scene when Sophie’s body was found and covered the crime as a reporter, before being treated as a suspect (and found guilty, in absentia, by the French Justice ).

For Sheridan, the real culprit is on the loose more than 25 years later. The director says the drama and mystery behind such a random (and seemingly personal) crime compel him to try to find the truth. He is particularly interested in the opposing conclusions in Ireland and France, creating an impasse that he believes demands closure. “All I want is to identify the real killer and bring Sophie to justice,” he said this week in an interview.

The efforts of the Oscar-nominated director have created conflicts with Sophie’s relatives, who refused to participate in his documentary because they believed (rightly) that he would be nice to Bailey. It’s just that Sheridan argues that without clear evidence, Bailey cannot be found guilty.

For his new approach, he’s rooting for Sophie Toscan du Plantier‘s family to feature in his new film about her murder. At this point, it will be the last opportunity as Sophie’s parents are 97 and 92 years old. A few years ago, there were allegations of corruption in the investigation by the Irish police, and Bailey, who is now virtually homeless, is still trying to clear his name in court. Sheridan is sure that a DNA test with current technology will put an end to the journalist’s suspicion. “There is no DNA against him, no blood, no evidence. The Gardai [Irish police] have his DNA and a blood sample from Sophie’s shoe. All they have to do is check Ian Bailey’s DNA and he will be excluded,” Sheridan told an Irish newspaper.

Bailey’s testimony has changed over the years, leaving clear inconsistencies about the story, where he was on the night of the murder, and how he arrived so quickly at the crime scene before it was publicized. In the same way, the main witness against him has also changed the version of his testimony more than once, which he claims to have suffered threats and due to the contradictions, the Irish Justice did not condemn the journalist.

In the new film, called Re-creation, the hybrid format that mixes dramatic recreation with interviews and real images will bring a new perspective on crime. “Call it an obsession. Call it anger. Call it justice. Call it what you want. I’m still looking for Sophie,” Sheridan said of his motivation for the project.

The recordings are already in progress. According to the production, it is “fiction to question reality”, with the teams “on a journey through the facts and lies behind the unsolved murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, giving her back a voice that was abruptly interrupted and helping the bereaved to find an outcome”. The expected release date is 2024.

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