SPANTON VS THE FRENCH POLICE

Ovidie Ovidie / France / 2022 / 63 min

Consent or rape? When two French police officers are accused of assaulting a Canadian woman, the system sides with the men. But then the first #metoo wave rolls and the case takes a major twist.

In 2014, Canadian tourist Emily Spanton walks into a bar in Paris. She is accosted by a group of men who turn out to be French police officers from the celebrated national SWAT team, BRI. After several drinks, they invite her to their office. What happens next is a matter of controversy. Emily Spanton presses charges against the cops for rape, they deny all allegations, and the dispute becomes an intensely media-covered trial. At first the cops are cleared, but Emily Spanton appeals, and as the #metoo movement starts to make waves internationally, the case suddenly stands in a completely different light and grows into a matter of principle about consent and women’s rights. Ovidie’s new film is a compact metro-thriller that reminds you how much #metoo has changed our views and norms.