When Le Consentement hit bookstores in 2020, it caused quite a stir. This autobiographical account by Vanessa Springora recalls her teenage years, spent "in a relationship", or rather under the sway of writer Gabriel Matzneff, 36 years her senior. In 2023, the book was adapted for the screen by Vanessa Filho(Gueule d'ange), with an unrecognizable Jean-Paul Rouve in the role of the writer. Released in cinemas last October, the film is broadcast for the very first time on Canal+ this Tuesday, April 30, 2024.
And in the role of Vanessa Springora, we find several actresses to embody the different ages of the young woman: Kim Higelin as a teenager, and Elodie Bouchez as an adult. Laetitia Casta completes the cast.
Our opinion
What could cinema bring to such a story? It's a legitimate question when you read Vanessa Springora's deeply moving account of the relationship between the 14-year-old teenager and Gabriel Matzneff, a well-known writer in his 50s. Vanessa Filho's film faithfully follows the storyline of the novel, the meeting between the young girl and the writer in the mid-1980s, and the evolution of the immensely toxic relationship, in which Vanessa suffers more and more violently the destructive hold this predator exerts over her.
The impressive thing about this adaptation is the acting. They alone justify the need to adapt this story. Matzneff, played by Jean-Paul Rouve in what is surely his greatest film role, is deified by the direction, to underline his hold and the fascination, then terror, he inspires in young Vanessa, played by the remarkably talented revelation Kim Higelin.
Given the subject matter, the film is obviously hard to watch. Some of the scenes, such as the explicit filming of the lovemaking between the child and the 50-year-old, are deeply uncomfortable. All the more so when the latter starts bragging about the relationship: "I'd have been so proud if everyone had seen me with my beautiful schoolgirl," he says confidently. The film hides nothing, and the grip of such a toxic relationship has never been shown so explicitly. The result is chilling.
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