The parents of a 13-year-old girl are claiming 11,000 euros in compensation from the National Education, after their daughter was traumatized by watching the film “The Ring” in French lessons.
In the Rhône, a young schoolgirl suffered a real trauma after the fourth grade broadcast of the horror film The Ring. This Thursday, the parents of the teenager demanded from the National Education the payment of 11,000 euros in damages, before the administrative court of Lyon. The event dates back to April 2019, in a college in the Rhône, a French teacher, wishing to study with his students the universe of fantastic cinema, chose to broadcast a horror film. Directed by American Gore Verbinski, The Ring is a remake of a Japanese classic that tells the story of a cursed videotape killing anyone who saw it.
According to the family lawyer, Me Thomas Bénagès, the girl was “Truly traumatized” by the film. “Then she couldn’t watch TV on her own, she stayed locked up in her home, she went through a very hard end of college, with panic attacks and social isolation.”, details the lawyer. The teenager therefore had to resort to medical and psychological monitoring as well as hypnosis sessions. According to the doctors she was “in a very characteristic post-traumatic stress state”. Me Bénagès figures the psychological and moral damage suffered at 11,342 euros. He also stresses that this film, banned in theaters under 12, is not recommended for under 16s for its television broadcast. “The professor knew perfectly well that this was a horror film and not a fantasy film”, he insists.
Take into account the circumstances
However, the public rapporteur Romain Reymond-Kellal gave a different reading of the file. Recognizing “in no way share the educational bias” of the teacher, he put forward the arguments of the defense, according to which the projection was followed by a “writing” of the pupils with the aim “to study the construction of fear in a film” and to “arm them to take a step back”.
“To establish a fault of the State it is necessary to take into account the circumstances”, he recalls, referring to the work of “contextualization” and the “educational goal ” research. The court’s decision is expected within two weeks.