Une Famille

As an incest victim, you are often on your own; the crime is too big and incomprehensible to deal with, even for immediate family members, who turn a blind eye or turn away. This mechanism becomes painfully clear in the directorial debut of writer Christine Angot, who here literally seeks redress from her family. Angot, who was repeatedly raped by her father as an adolescent and young adult (and has written about it before in novels), confronts her mother, ex-husband and stepmother about what happened to her, and especially their reaction to it.

This uneasy and at times disconcerting search for answers - in which powerlessness and frustration are central, and with the camera as a witness - is interspersed with old VHS footage of Angot and her ex with their still-young daughter. Her sometimes highly confrontational approach is all the more courageous considering that Angot's novels sometimes elicited ridicule rather than compassion in the French media (as a disconcerting television clip attests). In the end, her now-grown daughter turns out to be the only one able to stand beside her mother rather than opposite her.