Lore Kalam’s Loyal Friend: Whatever Happened to the Bataclan’s True Mythomania?

In The Devoted Friend, the first two episodes of which are available on the HBO Max platform, Laure Kalam plays Chris, a woman who for several years becomes one of the victims of the November 13, 2015 attack.

As incredible as it may seem, this four-episode mini-series is inspired by Alexander Kaufman’s investigative book called Bataclan myth.

Who was the real Chris?

Called Christel, aka Chrissy, in the movie A Devoted Friend, her real name was Florence M. and she was known to many of her victims by the internet pseudonym “Flo Kitty”.

A few days after the attacks, which shocked the whole of France, the latter contacted survivors through social networks, suggesting that he had a friend who was injured in the Bataclan.

He very quickly became a listener for all the victims and was employed by the victims’ association, Life for Paris. There he himself managed to drive out several false victims.

At the same time, in order to receive compensation, he presented himself as a survivor to the Guarantee Fund for Victims of Terrorist Acts. He will use any evidence he may have received to build his own story.

He even went so far as to take an Eagles of Death Metal concert ticket from a victim of the association to use to prove his bona fides. Thus, he will receive 25,000 euros from the guarantee fund and more than 13,000 euros from health insurance.

What happened to the true mythomania of the Bataclan?

However, the deception set by Florence was discovered. In March 2018, Creteil Court sentenced him to four and a half years in prison.

And the fifty-year-old was not his first run-in with the law, as he had already been convicted of fraud three times and placed under surveillance using an electronic bracelet.

“I think she was a very lonely woman, a victim of her loneliness and her past– Alexander Kaufman entrusted A Interview was awarded at the time of his book’s release.

“His Facebook account, which I had access to, is a dive into that loneliness. Unlike other false victims who lied with purely Viennese logic, Florence M. needed socialization.’

“And when we are victims of this event, we are no longer just ourselves, we are no longer an isolated person, we become a symbol, a piece of France, a collective piece. I think that’s what drove him to action.“Now out of prison, Florence M. disappeared from the radar.

Find the first two episodes of Une Amie Dévoué this Friday, October 18 on Max. The following episodes will be posted online at the rate of one episode per week.