Présumé coupable (2011)
Directed by Vincent Garenq

Film Review

It was the most notorious, most publicised miscarriage of justice to have taken place in France since the end of the Second World War.  Although they were ultimately acquitted, six men and women had their lives turned inside out as they fell victim of a flawed judicial process that allowed them to be indicted solely on the evidence of an unreliable witness and held in custody without trial or the chance of appeal for up to three years.  They were the victims not only of an imperfect legal system but also a manic feeding frenzy in the national media, which sought to profit from the public outrage over paedophilia in the aftermath of the Marc Dutroux affair.  The hysteria was not unlike that surrounding the Salem witch trials of the 17th century, and the injustices committed were almost as great.

In his book  'Chronicle of my judiciary error', a hardworking bailiff and family man named Alain Marécaux gives a deeply moving account of one of those on the receiving end of this catastrophic failure of justice.  Director Vincent Garenq was moved to tears when he read the book and was prompted to turn it into a hard-hitting drama documentary which follows Marécaux on his horrific descent into Hell.  For much of his previous career, Garenq had devoted himself to making documentaries for French television, so he was admirably well-placed to deliver an authentic account of a true story, without the merest fictional embellishment.  Présumé coupable makes a stark contrast with Garenq's previous film, the engaging social comedy Comme les autres (2008).  It is an engrossing, intensely poignant account of one man's martyrdom within the machinery of a woefully inadequate system which, when it goes wrong, goes seriously badly wrong.

The so-called 'Outreau Affair' (named after the small town near Boulogne in Northern France where the alleged paedophilia incident took place) is now such a cause célèbre in France that Garenq was wise not to attempt a broad canvas account of the case.  Instead, he goes for a more intimate study that focuses entirely on the experiences of one of the victims of the affair, Alain Marécaux.  The whole film is shown from Marécaux's narrow perspective and, as a result, effectively instils in its spectator his confusion, outrage and abject desolation as his world literally falls apart in front of his eyes.  This is not a film that will leave you unmoved, and the likelihood is that it will have you shouting in disgust and horror at what you see.  It's shocking to think that such a Kafkaesque nightmare could be a reality in 21st century France and you end up genuinely fearful that the same thing could happen to you.  Apparently all it takes to have your life destroyed is someone prepared to stand up and lie in court, an inexperienced and credulous magistrate and a pack of muckraking journalists ready to leap onto the next bandwagon.  Any one of us could be the next John Proctor.

Présumé coupable is an eye-opening and profoundly disturbing film but what makes it so particularly absorbing is an astonishing lead performance from Philippe Torreton.  The actor who drew international acclaim in such films as Bertrand Tavernier's Capitaine Conan (1996) and Ça commence aujourd'hui (1999) has been virtually off the radar for the past decade but here he makes a remarkable comeback, utterly convincing, devastatingly human, as the unfortunate Alain Marécaux.  A stickler for authenticity, Torreton not only agreed to have his head shaven, he also intended to lose fifty kilograms for the scenes in which Marécaux subjects himself to a 93 day hunger strike.  For health reasons, the actor had to content himself with losing just 27 kilograms, as a result of which he is totally transformed and is practically reduced to a barely mobile skeleton.  How the 2012 Best Actor César managed to elude Torreton is a mystery - his portrayal of Marécaux, an ordinary man driven to the absolute limits of what flesh and blood can endure, is indescribably moving.  Présumé coupable cannot fail to leave you stunned not only by the crass ineptitude of France's judicial system but also by its staggering lack of humanity.

Film Synopsis

This film recounts the harrowing exploits of Alain Marécaux, who, along with his wife and twelve other people, was arrested in 2001 for grotesque paedophilic acts of which he was entirely blameless.  It is the story of one man's descent into Hell as he finds himself caught up in the workings of an inhuman and uncompromising judicial system.  Alain is the victim of one of the most heinous miscarriages of justice of our time...