Ad Vitam ending explained: Why was Franck Lazarev’s wife kidnapped?

Ad Vitam is a French action thriller released on Netflix on January 10, 2025. Directed by Rodolphe Lauga, the film follows Franck Lazarev, a former elite intervention agent with a troubled past. The film stars French actor Guillaume Canet in the lead role of Franck.

The movie starts by revealing that Franck and his wife, Leo, were expecting a child, and the couple was overjoyed. However, as they reached their home, they discovered it had been ransacked. A brief conversation with his friend and former colleague, Ben, revealed that Franck knew what the burglars were after, but Leo was unaware.

Later, a group of armed men raided his house and kidnapped Leo, demanding Franck give them the secret item he had been hiding. His refusal led them to take Leo away, and the film revolved around Franck's journey to rescue her while unraveling his past.

Disclaimer: The article ahead contains spoilers for Ad Vitam.

As the plot progresses, the audience sees how Franck's past connection with France’s National Gendarmerie Intervention Group (GIGN) led to his current circumstances. Towards the end of Ad Vitam, it is revealed that Leo was kidnapped to force Franck into giving up critical evidence that could expose a government conspiracy.

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What was the reason for Leo's kidnapping?

Still from the movie (Image via Instragram/@netflixfr)

In Ad Vitam, after Leo was kidnapped, a flashback takes the narrative back by 10 years to the graduation program at the GIGN, where Franck, Leo, and their friend, Nico, became officers. A superior officer gave Franck his father's badge, and it was disclosed that his father was also a member of the force. A recruit, Ben, joined their team later.

Nine years after this, Franck, Ben, and Nico were on the way to their home when Franck got a call that there were gunshots fired at the Trianon Hotel. The trio reached there without waiting for backup. The mission escalated and became a hostage situation. Although the shooters got killed, Nico lost his life and Franck was fired from the GIGN because he took the call to risk his team.

Since Franck always kept his late father’s badge with him, during the fight with the shooters, he got some blood on the badge. After conducting a DNA test, Franck discovered that the blood was of Salim Lakdaoui, former special forces, and current French General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI) member.

The evidence linked powerful individuals within the French government and security forces to a covert operation. A CIA operative doing an arms deal in France was at the hotel that night, and the two shooters were DGSI agents who were there to steal files from him.

The plan went wrong, and they had to kill the CIA agent. To cover up, they shot at the GIGN agents who arrived at the scene. If this information were to be released, it would be a diplomatic disaster for the French government.

Since the start of Ad Vitam, the attacks on Franck and Leo were all an attempt to threaten Franck into giving up the evidence. The kidnappers believed Franck had hidden the badge and test results in a secure location, and they aimed to exploit his love for Leo to get to the badge and ultimately kill both of them.

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How do Franck and Ben save Leo at the end of Ad Vitam?

Guillaume Canet as Franck and Nassim Lyes as Ben (Image via Instagram/@netflixfr)

Ad Vitam intertwined Franck’s past as a member of the elite tactical unit with the central plot of the film. Franck tried to get help from a journalist to expose the truth, but she turned out to be an undercover agent, and that was how the government knew Franck had the evidence.

At the beginning of Ad Vitam, the face of one of the armed men who attacked Franck and kidnapped Leo was revealed. After the government conspiracy unfolded for the audience, the film also revealed that the kidnapper Vanaken and his men were hired by the government.

Vanaken gave Franck a deadline and told him that there was no use in going to the police, as Franck was a wanted man. Vanaken framed Franck for the murder of one of his co-workers. To save Leo, Franck turned to Ben, the other person who survived the mission that cost Nico his life.

Together, they tricked the kidnappers with a fake badge and saved Leo, but she was shot in the tussle. Without any alternative, Franck urged Ben to take Leo to the hospital and he lured the men elsewhere. The GIGN also got involved to take Franck down, and after an intense chase sequence and ensuring Leo's safety, Franck turned himself in.

However, it is revealed that Leo had saved the actual evidence. At the end of Ad Vitam, Franck was proven innocent of the murder, and the government conspiracy, along with the real identity of the shooters, was made public. Franck, Leo, their child, and Ben made it out alive and happy.

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