Fifth about The Seventh

The Accusation (Les Choses Humaines)

The Accusation: does the fact that Yvan Attal’s drama does not provide easy answers make it partial? The film is partially reproducing a real-world case where a young woman accuses a young man of raping her, but the choice of protagonist (besides giving only him a life, however brief, before the incident) and a “balanced” view only works to discredit the traditionally weak side. In any case, the film is engaging and well-acted, and agreeing or disagreeing, offers a lot of food for thought. Ben Attal plays the rich, entitled, charming young man who simply can’t understand what he did could be wrong; Suzanne Jouannet plays the accuser with a touching amount of distress. Charlotte Gainsbourg plays his mother, and her speech at the trial is quite powerful. Truly, however, the film’s best acting comes in a single scene at the trial, by the actors who play the opposing lawyers, Judith Chemla and Benjamin Lavernhe. Cinematographer Rémy Chevrin gives the film a moody, dark look, but that mentioned scene, shot in a single take, is quite a beauty to watch on top of how emotional it is.

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