Co-directed and played by Emmanuelle Béart, who reveals in this program that she was a victim of incest when she was a child, A silence so loud, broadcast this Sunday, September 24, 2023 at 11 p.m. on M6, gives a voice to the victims. Hard, but very strong, and essential.
It’s not easy to recommend this program, which doesn’t really guarantee a “good” time. And yet, this is indeed an essential documentary. To hear. Know. To try to understand. Co-directed by Anastasia Mikova, a Franco-Ukrainian journalist, who notably worked with the photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand, a specialist in nature documentaries, and Emmanuelle Béart, the film gives the floor to five victims of incest, including the actress which returns for the first time to this taboo and this childhood trauma. Even before the film was presented to the press, the actress made it known that her attacker, whom she spoke about on camera, was not her father.
Emmanuelle Béart, herself a victim of incest
This is obviously shocking information. Engaged in the production process, Emmanuelle Béart also appears in front of the camera to recount the sexual assaults she suffered during her childhood. “She gave herself up to me when we didn’t know each other“, says Anastasia Mikova, “I understood that she was in an emergency to talk about something that she had had inside her for too long.” In voice-over throughout the program or in front of the camera, the actress explains the sexual assaults of which she was a victim between the ages of 10 and 14, her denial then her work of reconstruction through meetings with other witnesses. Because A silence so loud is not just about Emmanuelle Béart. The documentary begins with chilling figures: 10% of the French population is a victim of incest, one boy in 12 and one girl in five.
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Testimonies of great modesty
So four other victims are speaking out, after years of silence, sometimes even forgetting. Joachim, Norma, Pascale and Sarah, whose daughter was raped for years by her father when he had custody of her. Words that are obviously hard to hear, but treated without any voyeurism, sometimes with very modest drawings to evoke the darkest moments. It took three years of preparation to arrive at these testimonies, filmed as closely as possible. Above all, this choral documentary is an ode to resilience, to the incredible strength of men and women (and a child) who try, each in their own way, to rebuild themselves. Or when light emerges in the heart of darkness. Poignant and not to be missed.
