Released in theaters on October 11, “Le Consentement” saw its attendance increase by 40% during its second week of operation. A rare and impressive phenomenon, on which director Vanessa Filho returns with us.
59,266 entries for its first week of operation. 82,582 during the second. That’s a 39% increase in attendance between October 18 and 24, when behemoths such as A Difficult Year and Killers of the Flower Moon had just arrived in theaters.
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Few films have achieved a performance as impressive as that of Consent, whose rise is largely due to a trend on TikTok, where videos related to the film adapted from Vanessa Springora’s book have been viewed more than 20 million times. times.
With more than 160,000 theatrical admissions to date, Le Consentement has already done better than the 107,437 of Gueule d’ange, the first feature film by its director Vanessa Filho. Who returns with us to this phenomenon which surrounds his film, where it is a question of the controlling relationship between Vanessa Springora and the writer Gabriel Mazneff, when she was only 14 years old.
AlloCiné: How did you discover this increase in attendance and become aware of the phenomenon? Were you tracking your film’s box office performance before this?
Vanessa Filho : I followed the figures a little, but with a distance, because the film belongs to the public now. You can never predict what will happen. We carry a film for years, we fight because it’s important, we always hope to share it with as many people as possible, but nothing is certain.
And then gradually, we realized that the entries were holding up, slowly, which meant that there had been word of mouth. That some had to convince people who had been afraid to go see a film on this subject at first. And it has already touched my heart.
And then, a week ago, my producer Carole Lambert called me to tell me that her daughter, who is a high school student, had shown her videos, testimonials on TikTok: teenage girls, and teenagers too, who were filming themselves before and after watching the film, who got involved. It was so moving! I thought about all those emails that I had received at the start of the casting from young girls who wrote to me to talk about the impact that Vanessa Springora’s book had had on their lives.
The theater operators I spoke with told me it had been a long time since they had seen so many teenagers in attendance for a film of this type.
This enthusiasm in theaters is also felt on TikTok, where publications related to “Consent” have to date accumulated more than 20 million views. Have you watched any of the videos? What particularly struck you about what came out?
Yes, of course, I looked! I was so moved to feel how concerned and touched young people were by Vanessa’s story. I also wanted, in this film, to talk about adolescence, this crucial and pivotal age, to talk about them. Seeing all these teenagers take hold of the film is wonderful!
I’ve even seen messages accompanying videos posted where some people who don’t know each other make appointments to go see it together. We made this film to denounce sexual abuse, the abuse of power which still predominates in our society. To prevent too. They are the ones who will move the lines and determine a different future.
Marc Ausset Lacroix / Bestimage Jean-Paul Rouve, Carole Lambert, Vanessa Springora, Kim Higelin, Vanessa Filho, Elodie Bouchez, Marc Missonnier
Were you able to interact with some of the people who posted these videos, or with viewers?
I have just returned from a tour in the provinces during which I was able to present the film and debate with the public. I was sometimes accompanied by Kim Higelin and Vanessa Springora. The three of us were at the Lilas Feminist Film Festival. The exchanges were extremely strong.
I met a lot of victims of sexual abuse for whom the film was necessary, as was the representation of sexuality and all the violence inherent in this story. Because for them, it was necessary not to sugarcoat the cruelty of what they had experienced, this very cruelty which had destroyed their lives, and had kept them in silence for so many years.
I particularly noticed that, when adults questioned the violence of certain images, teenagers in the room took the microphone to say that, for their part, it was not what shocked them the most, because they had mainly been sensitive to the psychological violence of the influence, of the words, to the suffering of the character.
It reminded me of our first exchange with Kim after the casting. She was twenty years old at that time. We talked together about the intimate and sexual scenes described in the script. She told me that what scared her the most about acting wasn’t that, that it was rather the psychological violence of this story, the manipulation, and the violence of everyday life.
The success of the film was particularly evident during the evening screenings. Are there plans to exchange views with the public after some of these sessions? To understand the reason for this phenomenon or to dialogue with them on the subjects of the film?
I would really like to continue supporting the film, yes. Continue to engage with the public. Each time, these are privileged moments of exchange and free speech. These are real encounters. I interacted with spectators of all ages. As the presentations progressed, I noticed more and more young girls in the room, and then more and more teenagers accompanying them.
And during the debates, they spoke more and more to express their emotions and give their opinions. The theater operators I spoke with told me it had been a long time since they had seen so many teenagers in attendance for a film of this type.
We made this film to denounce sexual abuse, the abuse of power which still predominates in our society. To also prevent
Do you know if the success of the film has an impact on sales of Vanessa Springora’s book?
I don’t know, but what is certain is that after each meeting with the public, many of those who had not yet read the book confided to me their desire to read it without delay!
Did you have a goal in terms of admissions when the film was released? Has it been revised upwards recently?
Today, I will answer that I am happy to share, that this film which was intended to prolong the fight initiated by Vanessa Springora continues to exist, that it can encourage speech to be freed, and do work of prevention.
Comments collected by Maximilien Pierrette in Paris on October 27, 2023