Joachim Lafosse Speaks Out About Abuse in ‘A Silence,’ and So Should You: ‘I Also Refused to See Myself as a Victim’
27.09.2023 - 08:21
/ variety.com
Marta Balaga Belgian director Joachim Lafosse is done being silent. Just like the family in his latest film “A Silence,” inspired by the real-life case of Victor Hissel: a former lawyer for two victims of killer Marc Dutroux, ultimately charged with possession of child pornography. “To me, it’s not a dark story, because they do start to talk,” he says about the characters played by Emmanuelle Devos and newcomer Matthieu Galoux, slowly digging up the long-buried sins of their husband and father (Daniel Auteuil).
“Astrid and her children decide to step out of that criminal environment. With this film, I want to show how people can be violated by something like that, how difficult it is to shake off that shame and guilt. It’s difficult, but I think it’s possible.” He also had to learn how to speak up, he says.
“In 2008, I made ‘Private Lessons.’ I didn’t say that at the time, but it’s my story. A true story,” he says. In the film, a teenage boy is taken advantage of by three adults, initially pretending to help him.
“With my mother, we haven’t spoken for years, and then she called me. She was crying. When I first made that film, her friend told her not to watch it.
When she finally did, she asked if I wanted to press charges. I heard myself say: ‘I don’t have the courage’.” The question of consent is very much on Lafosse’s mind. “I’ve heard people say that what happens to that boy [in ‘Private Lessons’] is not ‘that bad.’ That he accepted it, that it served him in some way.