ON THE TV PROGRAM. France 2 is broadcasting “After the Silence” this Wednesday, a moving TV film on marital rape with Clovis Cornillac…
This Wednesday, May 22, France 2 will rebroadcast the telefilm at 9:10 p.m. After the silencefeaturing Clovis Cornillac and Caroline Anglade in a moving scenario about violence and particularly marital rape. Broadcast for the first time in November 2022, this poignant drama tackles a delicate social and personal issue, with a disturbing storyline, reflecting a reality that is often passed over in silence but which many victims nevertheless know.
In After the silence, Marina walks through the doors of the nearest police station because she has finally found the courage to file a complaint against her ex-partner for rape. Repeated rapes, which took place in private for years, until Marina decided to flee with her son. But while this filing of a complaint is essential to her reconstruction, Marina understands that what is called marital rape is almost impossible to prove. His fight has only just begun. Fortunately, she finds help along her journey that is as unexpected as it is welcome, while others slip away…
After the silence thus explores the dark twists and turns of the life of Marina, superbly played by Caroline Anglade, who accuses her ex-companion, Grégory Pasteur, a successful real estate agent played with great realism by Clovis Cornillac. Despite the lack of material evidence and the disbelief of those around her, she decides to file a complaint, thus triggering a series of legal and social challenges. The TV film, directed by Jérôme Cornuau, raises not only the question of the difficulty of proving marital rape, but also the prejudices that persist against victims.
A truth often ignored in France
Clovis Cornillac plays here a man who, in his own words, “is in total denial, convinced that he is in the right.” After the silence features a man who sees his ex-partner’s complaint as a malicious attempt to damage his reputation. Cornillac was able to explain in the press: “These guys […] do not tell themselves about the world as it is, which is all the more terrible for their prey because they have the impression that it is they who are in the wrong.
Beyond its role in After the silence, Clovis Cornillac sees in the TV film an opportunity to raise public awareness on a sensitive and crucial subject. “I think that television has a real function […] : make beautiful films, on subjects as important as that of After the Silence, to reach as many people as possible and allow people to talk about them among friends or family”, he assured in Télé Loisirs.
If the TV film is not based on a true story, the work of fiction is intended to be as close to reality as possible and is also an educational tool to raise awareness and educate. In 2021, France recorded nearly 25,000 cases of rape, half of which occurred within couples. A dark and often hidden side of domestic violence. Although the penalty for such acts is twenty years in prison, the conviction rate remains desperately low, at just 2%. And this even though convictions for marital rape jumped by 130%, from 54 in 2017 to 123 in 2022, AFP indicated recently.