Genealogies of a Crime
Synopsis
Jeanne is a Freudian analyst who thinks she has detected homicidal tendencies in her nephew, aged 5. She also knows that - according to Freud's dictum - "everything is settled" by the age of five. No aspect of a child's personality is likely to alter in any significant way thereafter. Jeanne therefore decides to examine the remorseless development of her nephew's criminal persona, until such time as the crime she expects is committed : the nephew kills his aunt - and thus eliminates the only person who knew of his criminal tendencies. The young criminal, René, is represented by a female attorney named Solange. Her aim is to demonstrate the intricate play of subtle connections between the victim of a crime and the (future) criminal, over a period of more than ten years. Increasingly, the young man appears to consider that his lawyer and his deceased aunt are one and the same person. At the same time, the lawyer starts to see the young man as reincarnation of her son, who died in a car crash. Because the ghost of Jeanne inhabits the body of Solange, the young criminal may be granted a second chance.
Credits
Director (1)
Actors (22)
Production and distribution (4)
- Executive Producer : Gemini Films
- Foreign production company : Madragoa Filmes
- Film exports/foreign sales : The Bureau Sales
- French distribution : Rezo Films
Full credits (18)
- Executive Producer : Paulo Branco
- Adaptation : Raoul Ruiz, Pascal Bonitzer
- Screenwriters : Raoul Ruiz, Pascal Bonitzer
- Director of Photography : Stephan Ivanov
- Music Composer : Jorge Arriagada
- Assistant directors : Stéphane Riga, Ariel Sctrick
- Editor : Valeria Sarmiento
- Sound recordists : Henri Maïkoff, Gérard Rousseau
- Costume designer : Élisabeth Tavernier
- Sound Assistant : Philippe Donnefort
- Assistant Operator : Isabelle Dumas
- Camera Operator : Gilles Porte
- Production Manager : Philippe Saal
- Press Attaché (film) : Agnès Chabot
- Continuity supervisor : Barbara Constantine
- Production Designers : Luc Chalon, Solange Zeitoun
- Foley artist : Nicolas Becker
- Still Photographers : Moune Jamet, Luc Roux
Media Gallery
Technical details
- Type : Feature film
- Genres : Fiction
- Sub-genre : Metaphysical investigation
- Themes : Murder, Fate
- Production language : French
- Coproducer countries : France, Portugal
- Original French-language productions : Yes
- Nationality : Majority French (France, Portugal)
- Production year : 1996
- French release : 26/03/1997
- Runtime : 1 h 53 min
- Current status : Released
- Visa number : 89.880
- Visa issue date : 17/03/1997
- Approval : Yes
- Production formats : 35mm
- Color type : Color
- Aspect ratio : 1.66
- Audio format : Dolby SR
Box-office & releases
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International releases
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News & awards
Selections (5)
Awards (1)
Delegations (1)
About
One question to Raoul Ruiz
How did you work with Catherine Deneuve ?
"We've only made one film together. I'll be able to say more after the third. She implicates herself to a great extent. She read the book about Hermine van Hug during the shoot. She has a great deal of intuition. Often, I'd simply tell her to go from one spot to the other for her to understand the meaning of the scene. Sometimes a gesture was enough. At the end of the film, when she's mad, I simply asked her to make a slight hand movement. And that was enough to give a whole new dimension to the character." (Raoul Ruiz)
