In France, during its second week in theaters, The consent saw its number of entries increase by 40%. This unexpected success for this film, which attracted less than 60,000 spectators when it was released in October, is linked to a phenomenon that has become viral on TikTok. So teenagers published videos of themselves before and after seeing Vanessa Filho’s feature film (Angel Face), based on the shocking book by Vanessa Springora published by Grasset in 2020.
« Pour nous, c’était tellement important et essentiel de prolonger le débat initié par le livre », confie la réalisatrice rencontrée en janvier aux Rendez-vous d’Unifrance à Paris. « Évidemment, il y avait aussi le souhait à travers cette transposition de permettre à un public plus large, et peut-être moins lecteur, de connaître cette histoire. Il y a eu beaucoup de débats et de rencontres à travers la France ; à la suite des projections, des adolescents de 14, 15 et 16 ans se sont empressés d’aller acheter le livre. Moi, je trouve ça formidable. »
« Après ce film, on se rend compte que la libération de la parole est quasi immédiate. Vanessa a réussi à susciter chez les spectateurs un sentiment d’identification tellement fort que soudainement, il y a cette prise de conscience que ce qu’on a vécu était de l’emprise, un abus, ou que c’est ce qu’on est en train de vivre. Ce film peut donc faire œuvre de prévention et nous faire voir le monde un peu différemment. Avec Vanessa, on reçoit beaucoup de messages sur les réseaux sociaux qui sont bouleversants de vérité, de courage et de force », ajoute l’actrice Kim Higelin.
Le courage de Denise Bombardier
Sorti au début de 2020, le livre de Vanessa Springora a fait couler beaucoup d’encre en France, mais aussi au Québec. De fait, l’auteure y abordait la célèbre confrontation entre Gabriel Matzneff et Denise Bombardier à l’émission littéraire Apostrophes. En 1990, ce passage chez Bernard Pivot avait valu une pluie d’insultes à la regrettée femme de lettres.
Voyez un extrait de l’émission Apostrophes
« Rétrospectivement, je m’aperçois du courage qu’il a fallu à cette auteure canadienne pour s’insurger, seule, contre la complaisance de toute une époque. Aujourd’hui, le temps a fait son œuvre et cet extrait d’Apostrophes est devenu ce qu’on appelle, pour le meilleur et pour le pire, un “moment” de télévision », écrivait Vanessa Springora dans Le consentement. Un moment que Vanessa Filho a tenu à montrer dans son film.
PHOTO EMMA MCINTYRE, GETTY IMAGES, FOURNIE PAR L’AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
La réalisatrice Vanessa Filho, en 2019
On voulait vraiment rendre hommage au courage de cette femme [Denise Bombardier]. That’s why we fought to obtain this archive and use it in the film. When we were going to invite her to see the film, we were so sad to learn that she had died.
Vanessa Filho, director
In the shoes of a teenager
When she met Gabriel Matzneff, 50 years old, Vanessa Springora was only 13 years old. Alongside Jean-Paul Rouve, 57, who plays the predator, it is Kim Higelin, 21 at the time of filming, who lends his features to the young victim. In order to prepare for the role, the actress repeatedly read The consent and listened to the numerous interviews that the author had given to radio and television. Although she spent a lot of time with her, Kim Higelin, out of modesty, never wanted to ask her questions about her relationship with the man protected by the literary world.
“I had this desire not to imitate him,” explains Jacques Higelin’s granddaughter. I still had a lot of keys since I had his story and Vanessa Filho’s wonderful screenplay. I knew that an immense amount of work had been done, that the scenario was accurate and true to what Vanessa Springora had experienced. So I could rely solely on that to successfully build the character. There was also a part of imagination to create a process, a body, obviously following to the letter all of Vanessa’s emotional and staging instructions. »
Feeling fully confident with the filmmaker, sharing with her “the same emotional language”, Kim Higelin requested authorization for her to also intervene as a coach of intimacy for the scenes of a sexual nature between the teenager and the fifty-year-old author.
Vanessa has a kindness that is incredible and as a result, I constantly felt a sense of absolute security. This also allowed accuracy, that is to say that the choreography was precise, each shot was precise, so there was absolutely no freedom of movement.
Kim Higelin, actress
“For me, it was life-saving and it really allowed me to feel completely at ease in these scenes which can seem very intimidating and which, suddenly, were no longer so since Vanessa was accompanying us. »
PHOTO PROVIDED BY AXIA FILMS
Jean-Paul Rouve in The consentby Vanessa Filho
Unlike Vanessa Springora’s book, narrated in the first person, in Vanessa Filho’s adaptation, the voice of Gabriel Matzneff is essential during a large part of the film. In order to update the mechanisms of thought of the author of My broken down loves: diary 1983-1984 (Gallimard, 1990) and to help Jean-Paul Rouve bring his character into the world, the director, who did not know his work, had to delve into his novels, essays and notebooks.
“Even banned books,” she emphasizes. I realized that he had several styles and that he was not at all a great writer, but truly a follower. What is extremely shocking is that he really built his reputation on the scandal and his diaries, which really weren’t interesting at all, except sometimes for a few thoughts and a use of the verb. It’s constantly just repetitions, it’s like a teenager’s diaries. This is terrible narcissism! In fact, Gabriel Matzneff created a fictional character which he used to destroy others by manipulating words. »
Travel and accommodation costs for this report were paid by Unifrance.
In theaters February 23