Through the story of rapes committed between the 1980s and 2018, this true crime series directed by Jean-Xavier De Lestrade depicts the evolution of society's view of sexual violence and of listening to victims. Matthieu Belghiti, the series' producer at What's Up Films, and Guillaume Pommier, Co-Head of Distribution at Federation Studios, explain why they chose to take on this project with a universal reach.
Unifrance: How did the project come about?
Matthieu Belghiti : At the beginning, the project stemmed from an extremely thorough investigation by Alice Géraud, a journalist by training and the co-writer of the series.
This story of a serial rapist who was arrested after thirty years, while carrying out his crimes in a small part of the country, was totally unknown. For me, this story was a staggering and powerful revelation of the way our society has treated sexual violence in recent years. Immediately, my partner and the director Jean-Xavier De Lestrade said to ourselves that we had to adapt it. It's a project that fits perfectly with our approach as producers of both documentaries and fiction. By using reality, real life, and investigation, we like to work on projects that raise major questions of our time.
Could you pitch the series, in a few sentences?
MB: Samber is a loose adaptation of the "rapist of the Samber" story that rocked France. In order to structure a story that stretches over 30 years, we decided to make strong fictional choices: by following one character in particular, thus one point of view per episode, with clear ellipses each time. That of the first victim in the first episode, of a young judge who tries to stir things into action in the second, of a small town mayor confronted with political inertia... of a scientist, of a police officer, up to the rapist at the moment of his arrest.
Also, we wanted viewers to be in a constant state of tension. From the first episode, they know the rapist's identity, whereas the series' characters don't. They keep moving closer to him, without managing to catch him.
How does this series resonate with its audience? And, particularly, the international audience?
MB: True crime is a genre that is extremely popular. It's a genre that we have explored many times and that we really love. It's exciting when it goes beyond a new's story, when it says something about who we are as individuals, as citizens of the world. And because it's a true story, Samber touches the public with an exemplary dimension that gives it a tragic force, with a very powerful symbolic scope. The universal repercussion of #metoo (as a symbol, the rapist of the Samber was arrested the same year the #metoo movement started) demonstrates that sexual assault is a totally universal scourge. And we were determined that our characters' issues and conflicts should be visible to a much wider audience than the domestic French one.
As a distributor, what interested you in the Samber project?
Guillaume Pommier: We were already working with Matthieu Belghiti and his production company What's Up Films on the documentary series La Secte and we were very interested in working together on a fiction project. When Matthieu presented us with Samber, with his director and associate Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, we were immediately interested, as we had already been struck by the quality of his previous productions: Laëtitia, Jeux d'Influence, and The Staircase. We were very happy to be able to join forces, both as co-producers and as distributors.
But beyond the desire to work together, it is the series itself that captivated us. The story is gripping, breathtaking, while also being rather dizzying as the true story from which it stems is so awful. It deals with issues that are unfortunately universal, and the subject is treated sensitively and subtly: space is given to women's voices, it explores the representation and definition of rape, the evolution of society on these issues over the last thirty years... We are very proud to participate in this project.
And to conclude on this point, the commitment of France Télévisions, for whom the series will be a major launch next year, and the prime time slot for which it is intended, reinforced our decision.
You presented the series at the pitch session of Coming Next from France, which took place during the Series Mania Forum. What are your impressions after this session? Do you already have contacts or leads for exporting the series?
GP: For us, Coming Next was a very fine showcase for the series, it's always a great opportunity to pitch the project in front of an audience of buyers and partners.
It's also extremely constructive to be able to discover the series of our colleagues and to exchange with the other producers and distributors who came to present their projects, in the convivial and warm atmosphere of Coming Next.
In terms of exporting the series, feedback was immediate and varied, from different territories and platforms. We already have some interested clients and discussions are underway, some very advanced... we will know more by MIPCOM!
