''The Accusation'' (french: Les Choses humaines, lit=Human Things) is a 2021 French

courtroom drama A legal drama is a genre of film and television that generally focuses on narratives regarding legal practice and the justice system. The American Film Institute (AFI) defines "courtroom drama" as a genre of film in which a system of justice pl ...

film directed by

Yvan Attal Yvan is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Jacques-Yvan Morin, GOQ (born 1931), politician in Quebec, Canada *Marc-Yvan Côté (born 1947), former Quebec politician and Cabinet Minister for the Quebec Liberal Party *Maurice-Yvan S ...

. The screenplay, written by Attal and Yaël Langmann, is an adaptation of Karine Tuil's 2019 novel of the same name. It had its world premiere on 9 September 2021 at the

78th Venice International Film Festival The 78th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 1 to 11 September 2021. South Korean director Bong Joon-ho was appointed as the President of the Jury, marking the first time a South Korean director has been picked as the festiv ...

, and was released in France by Gaumont Film Company on 1 December 2021.

Plot

Alexandre Farel is the son of the prominent television presenter Jean Farel. Claire, his mother, left Jean and lives with Adam Wizman, who is also separated from his Orthodox Jewish wife with whom he has a daughter, Mila. When Alexandre returns from finishing his studies in the United States, he accompanies his mother for an evening and meets Mila. Together they go to a party for former students of the

Lycée Henri-IV The Lycée Henri-IV is a public secondary school located in Paris. Along with the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, it is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious and demanding sixth-form colleges (''lycées'') in France. The school educates more than ...

. The next day, the police arrest Alexandre, who has been accused of rape by Mila. He denies the charge and argues that the act was consensual. The event sends the families into a breakdown as their lives are torn apart by the trial.

Cast

* Ben Attal as Alexandre Farel * Suzanne Jouannet as Mila Wizman *

Charlotte Gainsbourg Charlotte Lucy Gainsbourg (; born 21 July 1971) is a British-French actress and singer. She is the daughter of English actress Jane Birkin and French musician Serge Gainsbourg. After making her musical debut with her father on the song " Lemo ...

as Claire Farel * Mathieu Kassovitz as Adam Wizman *

Pierre Arditi Pierre Arditi (born 1 December 1944) is a French actor. He is the brother of French actress Catherine Arditi. Life and career Born in Paris, his father was the painter Georges Arditi, from Marseille of Jewish descent, and his mother Yvonne ...

as Jean Farel *

Audrey Dana Audrey Dana (born 21 September 1977) is a French actress and film director. Life and career Dana studied drama in Orléans and Paris. After two years in New York City, she went back to France where she acted in various plays, including '' Nos am ...

as Valérie Berdah *

Benjamin Lavernhe Benjamin Lavernhe (, born 14 August 1984) is a French actor. He has appeared in more than sixteen films since 2009. Filmography References External links * Living people French male film actors 21st-century French male actors 1984 ...

as Maître Arthur Célerier *

Judith Chemla Judith Chemla (; born 5 July 1985) is a French actress. Life and career In 2012, Chemla appeared in '' Camille Rewinds'', for which she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 38th César Awards. On 10 April 2020, during the coronavi ...

as Mila's lawyer * Hervé Temime as Maître Lancel * Franz-Rudolf Lang as Maître Rozenberg * Réjane Kerdaffrec as Anne Collet *

Gérard Watkins Gérard Watkins (born 4 July 1965) is an English-French actor, playwright, director, and songwriter. He graduated from Lycée de St Germain en Laye in 1983. As a stage actor, he has performed in over forty productions in Paris with such directo ...

as Avocat Général *

Laetitia Colombani ''He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not'' (french: À la folie... pas du tout) is a 2002 French psychological drama film directed by Lætitia Colombani. The film focuses on a fine arts student, played by Audrey Tautou, and a married cardiologist, played b ...

as Psychologist *

Jean-Charles Piette Jean-Charles and Jean-Carles is a French masculine given name. Notable people with the name include: * Jean Charles, Chevalier Folard (1669–1752), French soldier and military author * Jean-Charles Adolphe Alphand (1817–1891), French engineer ...

as Expert Psychiatrist *

Marie Dompnier Marie Dompnier is a French actress, singer and director born in 1980 in Toulouse, Haute-Garonne, in France, best known both in France and internationally for her role as Lieutenant Sandra Winckler in the TV series Witnesses (Les Témoins). Educ ...

as Madame Vallet *

Jean-Toussaint Bernard Jean-Toussaint Bernard (August 8, 1980) is a French actor and screenwriter. Education He studied at the Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique. Theater * 2003: Le Nouvel Appartement de Carlo Goldoni, by Muriel Mayette-Holtz, Studi ...

Romain Cottard Romain may refer to: People Given name * Romain Bussine (1830–1899), French poet and voice professor * Romain Rolland (1866–1944), French writer * Romain de Tirtoff (1892–1990), French artist and designer known as Erté * Romain Bellenge ...

* Zakariya Gouram *

Laëtitia Eïdo Laëtitia Eïdo (born October 25, 1985) is a French actress, born to a French father and a Lebanese mother. She is best known as Dr. Shirin El Abed, one of the leading roles in the Israeli Netflix series '' Fauda'', and as the voice of Mira in the ...

as Yasmina Vasseur *

Camille Razat Camille Emilie Razat (born 1 March 1994) is a French actress and model. She is known for playing Lea Morel in France 2 drama '' The Disappearance'', and for playing Camille in the Netflix television series '' Emily in Paris''. Biography Camille ...

as Quitterie *

Emmanuelle Lepoutre Emmanuelle is the lead character in a series of French erotic films based on the main character in the novel ''Emmanuelle'' (1959), created by Emmanuelle Arsan. Character history Emmanuelle appeared as the pen name of Marayat Rollet-Andrian ...

* Anne Bouvier as Madame Ballard * Marie-Bénédicte Roy as Marianne * Joaquim Fossi * Angèle Metzger * Fahmi Guerbaa * Julie Fournier as Florence Laplace * Fabrice Drouelle

Production

The screenplay is inspired by the novel '' Les Choses humaines'' by Karine Tuil, published in the summer of 2019, which notably won the

Prix Interallié The prix Interallié (Interallié Prize), also known simply as ''l'Interallié'', is an annual French literary award, awarded for a novel written by a journalist. History The prize was started on 3 December 1930 by about thirty or so journa ...

and the

Prix Goncourt des Lycéens The Prix Goncourt des Lycéens is a French literary award created in 1987 as a sort of younger sibling of Prix Goncourt, a prestigious prize for French language literature. The ten members of the Académie Goncourt select twelve literary works as ...

. Karine Tuil herself was inspired by a news story that occurred on the Stanford University campus (the 2015 rape case of Stanford student Brock Turner) to write the novel. Yvan Attal directs his partner

in the film as well as their son, Ben Attal — both of whom already starred in his previous film, ''

My Dog Stupid ''My Dog Stupid'' (french: Mon chien Stupide) is a 2019 French comedy film directed by Yvan Attal and starring Attal and Charlotte Gainsbourg. The screenplay, written by Attal, Dean Craig and Yaël Langmann, is based on the short story of the sa ...

'', released in 2019. Principal photography began in August 2020. Filming especially took place in the courthouse of

Créteil Créteil () is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Créteil is the ''préfecture'' (capital) of the Val-de-Marne department as well as the seat of the Arrondissement of Cr� ...

(

Val-de-Marne Val-de-Marne (, "Vale of the Marne") is a department of France located in the Île-de-France region. Named after the river Marne, it is situated in the Grand Paris metropolis to the southeast of the City of Paris. In 2019, Val-de-Marne had a p ...

). Filming took place in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

until 7 November 2020.

Release

''The Accusation'' had its world premiere on 9 September 2021 at the

. The film was also screened at 47th

Deauville American Film Festival The Deauville American Film Festival (french: Festival du cinéma américain de Deauville, link=no) is a yearly film festival devoted to American cinema, which has taken place since 1975 in Deauville, France. It was established by Lionel Ch ...

on 11 September 2021. It was theatrically released in France by Gaumont Film Company on 1 December 2021.

Reception

Box office

The film sold 182,074 admissions in France, grossing a domestic total of $1.3 million.

Critical response

''The Accusation'' received an average rating of 3.1 out of 5 stars on the French website AlloCiné, based on 28 reviews. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 86% based on 7 reviews, with an average rating of 8.3/10. Jordan Mintzer of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

'' wrote, "The film tends to overstay its welcome, mostly because Attal doesn't know when to cut a scene short, or otherwise cut away, and let us think for ourselves".

Accolades

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Accusation, The 2021 films 2021 drama films 2020s French films 2020s French-language films 2020s legal drama films Films about rape in France Films based on French novels Films directed by Yvan Attal Films shot in Île-de-France Films shot in Paris France 2 Cinéma films French courtroom films French drama films Gaumont Film Company films Films produced by Olivier Delbosc