For the first time in France, psychological help is being offered to cinema spectators during the first screenings of
Débâcle
, in theaters on Wednesday February 28, which directly addresses the trauma of sexual violence in childhood.
Inspired by the novel by Lize Spit published in 2016, the first feature film by Belgian actress and director Veerle Baetens traces the return to her hometown of a victim, Eva.
In her car, she carries a huge block of ice, a key element to help her confront her devastating past.
She is played by Charlotte de Bruyne and Rosa Marchant, who won the Best Actress award at the 2023 Sundance Independent Film Festival at the age of 16.
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Before the film, prohibited for children under 12, a message warns spectators that they can ask for help or simply chat by telephone with members of child protection or suicide prevention associations.
In addition, La Grande Distribution, which organizes debates after film screenings, plans around fifty special sessions throughout France, with volunteers available to discuss and listen to spectators who wish.
“The idea of “cinema-safe” (the name of this initiative, Editor's note), is basically to say: the cinema is a place where you are safe and, no matter what emotions you are going to feel, we is there with you and we will not let you down
,” explains Mélanie Simon-Franza, manager of La Grande Distribution.
“It’s a sort of springboard or mediation between the film debate and the psychologist
. ”
This project, she says, was born while accompanying another film,
Slalom
by Charlène Favier (2021), which deals with sexual violence in sport.
“After the screenings, we had classic debates and we realized that there were spectators who had realized with this film that they had experienced violence in childhood.
We weren't ready to listen to those words and take them on board
,” she remembers.
Veerle Baetens, revealed as an actress by the independent film
Alabama Monroe
in 2012, says she is
“very happy”
with this initiative.
“To be honest, we tried to set it up in my country, Belgium, but the distributor didn't really follow
,” she adds, interviewed by AFP.
The 7th art is immersed in a vast introspection on the stories brought to the screen and the way of filming sex scenes.
The #MeToo movement was born in the world of cinema, and should be at the center of the César ceremony on Friday in Paris, after the accusations of sexual violence made by actress Judith Godrèche against directors Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon.
For
Débacle
, which maintains the tension with flashbacks, the director regularly called on a psychologist to prepare these difficult scenes with her minor actors.
In cinema,
“the male gaze must exist, but that’s all it’s been around for 100 years
,” the director finally remarks.
“And so I find that we are in a very interesting time where, finally, the female gaze is considered interesting too.”