[en] In this study the fluctuation method is applied to the 32-50 A.MeV Xe + Sn central collisions detected with the INDRA multidetector. This method based on kinetic energy fluctuations allows the authors to provide information on the liquid gas phase transition in nuclear multifragmentation. In the case of Xe + Sn central reactions a divergence in the total heat capacity is observed. This divergence corresponds to large fluctuations on the detected fragment partitions. A negative heat capacity branch is measured and so tends to confirm the observation of a first order phase transition in heavy-ion collisions. (A.C.)