Tribeca 2025 Review: RE-CREATION Takes Another Look at a 1996 Murder

Director Jim Sheridan made his reputation with ferocious real-life dramas like In the Name of the Father and My Left Foot. In recent years, he's concentrated on stories about people he believes have been convicted unjustly.

One such case is journalist Ian Bailey, who was accused of murdering French filmmaker Sophie Toscan Du Plantier in 1996 outside her home near Cork in Ireland. He was tried and convicted in abstentia by the French government.

In Re-Creation, Sheridan and co-director David Merriman stage how they imagine jury deliberations would have taken place during Bailey's trial in France. Sheridan himself appears as the jury foreman. Jurors include John Connors (#3), aggressive and bigoted; Maja Juric (#11), a young woman intimidated by the men on the jury; and Vicky Krieps (#8), the only juror to vote not guilty in the initial accounting. Colm Meany plays Bailey in opening and closing scenes.

12 Angry Men is clearly the model for Re-Creation. Sheridan and Merriman mirror that movie's plotting and dynamics right down to the jurors experimenting with the murder weapon (a switchblade in the 1957 original; a sharp rock here). The voting starts 11–1 to convict. By questioning evidence and motives, Krieps gradually persuades the other jurors to vote not guilty, just as Henry Fonda did some 70 years ago.

Sheridan and Merriman have a lot of heavy lifting to do. The case is a complicated one, with conflicting evidence and poor police work. The jurors have back stories that emerge during deliberations. Some, like Connors', are sentimental and predictable. Juror #6 (Zahara Moufid) has mystical leanings that lead to peculiar digressions.

Like Juror No. 2, the jurors here take a bus to visit the scene of the crime, another digression that doesn't help advance the story.

After two days for rehearsal, Sheridan and Merriman shot the film in 11 days. (Sheridan told me that the French government prohibited him from shooting in France.) Cinematography and editing in Re-Creation are functional, with close-ups used as transitions between long dialogue takes.

Sheridan is good as the foreman, while Connors is convincing in a difficult role. Krieps is the standout here, delivering yet another superb, precise performance. She is reason enough to seek out Re-Creation.

The film enjoyed its world premiere at Tribeca Festival 2025. Visit its official page for more information.