"“A brilliant and emotive film, depicting an incredible tale of lives shattered…”"

Amidst the countless charming, archetypal French productions airing at this years London Film Festival, is this hidden gem. Guilty is neither amiable nor delightful, but instead a brutal insight into the life of a man wrongly accused of paedophilia.

Based on real events, the Outreau trial was a major news story across France in 2004. A now infamous miscarriage of justice saw several innocent people embroiled in a case whereby they were accused of sexually assaulting children.

We follow Alain Marecaux (Philippe Torreton), whose memoirs from his torrid time prove dividend to the making of this feature, as we follow his story based around such writings.

Alain was an ordinary family man, with a wife and three children. Working as a bailiff, he was enjoying life. However, on one fateful night when the police storm into his home accusing both Alain and his wife Edith (Noemie Lvovsky) of raping children, his life is turned upside down.

There is no evidence but merely allegations made against Alain, but due to insufficiency within the judicial system, Alain is imprisoned pending trial for two years. During this time his mother passes, unable to cope with her son’s ordeal seemingly her killer. Once Edith is released on bail, she also leaves her forsaken husband, who meanwhile has had to resign from his work, sell his house and have his reputation tarnished indefinitely.

It did strike me that due to the devastating set of circumstances, some of which are just unbelievable, it would be a difficult film to get wrong. Such a torrid tale of one man’s life being destroyed, already has such affecting elements that it’s almost guaranteed to be distressing. However, director Vincent Gareng excelled himself, and as well as the anguish surrounding Alain’s predicament, the film was unbearably realistic and the acting was incredible – almost documentary like in its approach.

Torreton was stunning as Alain, forcing me to double-check whether he was an actor or whether Marecaux was playing himself. His performance is a compliment to the real man – as he justly portrays the horror and damage caused upon his life. He has a sorrow in his eyes, and due to his character suffering throughout, when he does smile it feels incredibly genuine, and consequently very moving.

I would like to have seen more of Alain’s life prior to the ordeal however, in order to fully understand his character before he was accused. Some background information on Alain and his family life would only have helped comprehend his state of affairs further.

But following his torment with little background knowledge was still enough to make it dreadfully disconcerting. There are no positives to come from this feature – it’s raw and disturbing.  Even when acquitted, it merely comes as being just fair – but doesn’t compensate for what’s happened; the loss of lives, and the several suicide attempts that Alain performed, not too mention the other victims, both the innocently accused and the poor children at the heart of the trial.

Guilty is also suspenseful, as despite being conscious right from the very start that Alain is innocent, we are still unaware of how he came to be in this position – who is lying, and why they are doing so. It therefore had the trepidation that comes with court-room dramas, except usually where we are desperate to know if the accused is innocent or guilty, in this case the mystery was just as strong but for separate reasons.

Despite being unable to shake off the feeling of ‘what if this happened to me?’ it’s a brilliant and emotive film, depicting an incredible tale of shattered lives. It’s a different side to French cinema to what we are usually exposed to in Britain – but if there are films as ominous yet powerful coming from France such as this feature, I’d quite like to see them.