CONSENT

Paris, 1985. Vanessa is thirteen when she meets Gabriel Matzneff. A very smart and manipulative man, the fifty-year-old renowned writer seduces the young girl. The adolescent becomes the lover and muse of a man celebrated by the cultural and political establishment. Losing herself in the relationship, she gradually starts to realize how destructive and anormal the situation is, until she finally sees Gabriel Matzneff for the predator he really is. Vanessa now has a long journey to free herself from his influence and heal from her suffering… 

• Acting, especially on Kim Higelin’s part, is also the high point of Consent. Her efforts are also complimented by those of Rouve, who plays Matzneff as a less than sympathetic man, and by the controlled performance of Casta as the mother.  (Cineuropa) 

• For people like me who remember the eighties fondly as a free decade, Consent is a chilling reminder of the darker sides of the era, even if the cultural world in France was extreme in the manner it rewarded transgressions.  (…) The film moves through time, and in a scene set in 1990, it shows a broadcast of the famous cultural TV show Apostrophes, where Matzneff appeared. Everyone in the studio seems to respect him, with one exception: The Canadian writer Denise Bombardier, who bravely criticized him strongly with harsh words. This caused her to be harassed in the media and even in public. Tellingly, she was the only non-French person in the studio. (The Disapproving Swede) 

•  “Consent”: in the clutches of the ogre Matzneff. The faithful adaptation of Vanessa Springora’s story gives flesh to the mechanics deployed by Gabriel Matzneff to abuse a teenage girl. Useful.
  Translated from Télérama: “Le Consentement” : dans les griffes de l’ogre Matzneff
  L’adaptation fidèle du récit de Vanessa Springora donne chair à la mécanique déployée par Gabriel Matzneff pour abuser d’une adolescente. Utile. 

Cinéfranco point of view:
May offend/ Sexual content/Adult accompaniment/ from 16 years of age 

La Régie du Québec point of view: 13+
This feature film is loosely adapted from Vanessa Springora’s autobiographical story of the same name in which she describes her abusive relationship with author Gabriel Marzneff. The film shows the psychological manipulation of a naïve child by a pedophile protected by his social status and artistic reputation. Several scenes of sexual activity between an adult and a minor are disturbing, even if they are portrayed without complacency. 

https://repertoire.cinema.mcc.gouv.qc.ca/film/le-consentement-440196/) 

• Rendez-Vous With French Cinema in New York – USA- Official Selection (2024) 
• Yokohama French Film Festival – Japan – Official Selection (2024) 
• Red Carpet, French Film Festival- The Netherlands – Official Selection (2023) 
• Black Nights Tallinn Film Festival – Estonia –Official Selection – International Premiere (2023) 

2024 French Cesar 

Nominated for :

• Best adaptation: Vanessa Filho 
• Best Female Newcomer: Kim Higelin