The nuances of many stories are, reputedly, lost in the translation from one language to another. But there can be few with so divergent interpretations as the standard Scottish version and a new French portrayal of the life of Jimmy Boyle.

Despite his reformation through his talents for sculpture and writing, Mr Boyle is still widely regarded in his home country as a notorious murderer. In a new French film, however, he is depicted as an anti-establishment hero.

In the award-winning La Rage et le Reve des Condamnes (The Anger and Dream of the Condemned) the man once known as the most violent in Scotland is characterised as a rebel who found his cause.

The film has won ecstatic reviews in France - where Mr Boyle is a popular figure - and he is now considering quitting his Edinburgh home and moving to the country permanently.

Mr Boyle said he agreed to make a star appearance in Jean-Pierre Krief's documentary about how prisoners find freedom and reform because the French have a more enlightened attitude towards the penal system. UK directors, he said, tend to have pre-conceived ideas about him.

"I know from the many letters I've received and the reaction of my neighbours in Antibes that the film was exceptionally well received in France," he told Scotland on Sunday. "The French are more philosophical and less sensational about what I'm about."

Mr Boyle owns a villa in Cap d'Antibes, an exclusive resort situated between Cannes and Nice, and he is now considering setting up home there permanently. "I don't like Scotland. I don't like the weather and I don't like the fact that I'm judged on my past rather than my present and future," he said.

During the 60s Mr Boyle earned a reputation as Glasgow's most notorious hardman. He stood trial for murder twice in 1965: on the first occasion he was found not guilty and on the second the charges were dropped.

But in 1967 he was jailed for the murder of William "Babs" Rooney. He was found guilty of stabbing Mr Rooney to death at a party, but he continues to protest his innocence of the crime. His initial time in prison was characterised by violence. Two months into his sentence he seriously assaulted an assistant governor at Barlinnie, breaking a bone in his face.

In 1968 he was found guilty of two more assaults on prison officers, and in 1973 he had six years added to his sentence for an attack on prison officers in which one man lost an eye.

But when he was transferred to the special unit for troublesome prisoners at Barlinnie prison Mr Boyle became perhaps its greatest success story. He found a talent for sculpture and now exhibits across Europe.

Mr Krief said Mr Boyle's life story was viewed as inspirational in France and he had decided to make a documentary about him after reading his book, A Sense of Freedom.

"In France no one has a bad word to say about him, he's not thought of as being a bad man," he said. "He has paid his debt to society and we can learn from his life. He's a rebel, in that he went against society, but he has paid the price and I think we do not need to dwell on that fact. People here are very respectful about his history."

Mr Krief said his documentary, which premiered in Paris in March, has been successful across Europe, but has not been shown in Scotland.