L'Amour violé
1978 Drama
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Credits
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Summary
One evening, a nurse, Nicole, is heading home on her moped when she is driven off the
road by a van. Four men get out of the van and proceed to taunt her, before abducting
her. She is taken to a remote spot where she is forced to strip naked, thereupon
she is raped by each man in turn. Traumatised by the experience, she finally manages
to tell her fiancé, Jacques, a serviceman. His reaction is predictable: initially
he is disgusted by Nicole, and then he is ready to hunt down her aggressors and punish
them. Although she too is hungry for revenge, Nicole finally accepts the advice
of a friend to go to the police. When the four men are arrested, Nicole is surprised
to learn that they are far from being the mindless brutes she had imagined…
Review
It is hard to imagine that a film that deals so frankly with rape and its consequences
could have been made in the late 1970s. At the time, the subject of rape was a virtual
taboo, and certainly a no-go area for cinema and television. Feminist filmmaker
Yannick Bellon clearly had a message to convey and she does this with startling effectiveness
in L’Amour violé, possibly the most insightful
and shocking of her social-realist dramas. The brutally of the rape scene is underscored
by the conventional, matter-of-fact way in which it is shot – the rape is presented both
as a bit of laddish fun from the male perspective and as a harrowing ordeal from the side
of its female victim. This dual perspective runs right through the film and is central
to the message it is telling us. Rape can never, under any
circumstances, be tolerated, and its perpetrators must be punished, lawfully.
Whilst a few scenes do seem weighed down by excessive pontification, the film manages
to tackle many complex themes intelligently but with great sensitivity and humanity.
Nathalie Nell is magnificent as the film’s “heroine” – hers is a truly heartbreaking and
convincing portrayal of a woman who goes through Hell to see justice done and her dignity
finally regained.
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