“A lawyer defends the best interests of the child, facing the hospital and the parents, that fascinated me”

In “For Marnie”, the director of “The Virtues”, Jack Thorne, recounts the fight of a family which is torn apart against a hospital which wants to interrupt the care of their child, victim of a degenerative disease. A delicate and fair miniseries, broadcast from Monday on France 2.

A battle between two parents over the fate of their sick child. Marnie is 12 years old. His degenerative disease gets so bad that the hospital tells them it will stop treatment. The two parents do not have the same reaction.

It’s a delicate series For Marnie, broadcast from tomorrow evening on France 2. British director Jack Thorne, to whom we owe another social drama in England, The Virtues, chose to tactfully evoke the destiny of this child and the fight between their parents.

“We didn’t want a series in which a family opposes a hospital, explains Jack Thorne. As soon as we talk about a family tearing itself apart, it becomes a story that everyone can understand. I hope that by watching the series, people will spend their time thinking about both parents: I think he’s right, or I think she’s right.”

The series resonates with the debate, stopped today in France, on the end of life and euthanasia. She talks about planned termination of care. It was the British legal system that intrigued and fascinated director Jack Thorne:

“In these so-called best interest cases, there are three lawyers. One lawyer represents the parents. Another represents the hospital. And there is a third lawyer who represents the best interests of the child. The idea even that the hospital cannot understand the best interests of the child, that the parents, crucially, cannot understand it either, and that we therefore need a third separate advocate, just to the child, it fascinated me. But it’s the way the legal system works in England and I thought there was scope to explore this very powerful question.

Niamh Moriarty plays the sick child. A delicate and tough role, she is herself in a wheelchair with an illness. She tells franceinfo: “I really felt close to this character. His portrait and the experience of people with disabilities are described in a way that incredibly accurate.”

For Marnie4 episodes from Monday June 24, on France 2.