The Party Film Sales has sold “We Believe You,” directed by Charlotte Devillers and Arnaud Dufeys, to Spain (Filmin and Karma Films) and Benelux (O’Brother Distribution). In France, the film’s release will be overseen by TPFS’s sister company jour2fête.
Produced by Makintosh Films, “We Believe You” premieres in Berlinale’s Perspectives section, spotlighting debut features. It focuses on Alice, a mother fighting for her children’s safety in a custody battle, accusing their father of a horrifying crime.
“We meet victims of sexual assault, and some of them reveal incest to us. It’s something I know well from my work,” says Charlotte Devillers, who used her own experiences as a nurse in a sexual health clinic.
“That’s how I met Arnaud. I told him about my job and the situations I’d encountered. As a nurse, I’m always observing and listening. These are the tools that allow us to see if a child is not doing well, to foresee problems and hopefully prevent them from happening. These were the tools I used to write the script and work on the film.”
In the story, they decided to focus on procedures employed in similar cases, with everything coming together during one explosive hearing. You can watch the exclusive trailer below.
“Everything that’s being discussed during this meeting is very representative of the Kafkaesque atmosphere of our entire judicial system. It sums it all up and allows the viewers to understand this family’s situation,” explains Dufeys.
According to the research mentioned in the film, only 10% of incest victims press charges and just 2% of them “eventually obtain justice.”
“There’s still so much shame surrounding these issues. Also, when it’s the children who reveal violence, quite often, we don’t actually believe them. When they finally say something, we ask: ‘Are you sure? Is it true?’ It’s something we’ve noticed and heard during various meetings, either with the judges or with the victims,” adds Devillers.
“It’s a real problem and it’s what the film is about. We wanted to show it all from a child’s perspective and focus on the so-called principle of precaution. When a child reveals violence, are we protecting them or are we failing? That’s the question we asked ourselves. In France, one child is afflicted [by violence] every three minutes. These numbers are massive. We need to work together and make sure we can hear these voices, instead of questioning them.”
“We Believe You” stars Myriem Akheddiou (“Young Ahmed”), Laurent Capelluto (“Playground”), Natali Broods, Ulysse Goffin and Adèle Pinckaers – as well as real-life lawyers, all too familiar with such cases.
“They react just like they would react during a normal hearing,” says Dufeys. While they opted not to show explicit scenes in the film, “imagining them is even more terrible.”
“We left some space for improvisations, and that allowed us to build a relationship with the actors and create intimacy between the characters. At one point, our young protagonist asked: ‘What did this father do to his child?’ Charlotte was able to explain it, because she knows how to find the right words.”
According to Dufeys, their work on the film was “complimentary.”
“Charlotte’s personal experience really nourished the whole project and allowed us to be accurate and authentic. She knows this environment – it was important for it to feel right. I focused on the technical aspects, but we made all the artistic choices together. Now, I think she’s ready to make even more movies.”
“We are thrilled with the strong international interest in ‘We Believe You’ ahead of its Berlinale premiere,” note Samuel Blanc and Estelle de Araujo from The Party Film Sales. “It’s a powerful, tense and necessary film that doesn’t shy away from complexity while also being an audience pleaser.”
