''A Silence'' () is a 2023

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Joachim Lafosse Joachim Lafosse (born 18 January 1975) is a Belgian film director and screenwriter. Career Lafosse studied at the IAD (Institut des arts de diffusion) at Louvain-la-Neuve between 1997 and 2001. His graduation film ''Tribu'', a 24-minute short ...

. The film stars

Daniel Auteuil Daniel Auteuil (; born 24 January 1950) is a French actor and director who has appeared in a wide range of film genres, including period dramas, romantic comedies, and crime thrillers. In 1996 he won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Fest ...

and

Emmanuelle Devos Emmanuelle Devos (born 10 May 1964) is a French actress. She is the daughter of actress Marie Henriau. She won the César Award for Best Actress in 2002 for her performance in ''Sur mes lèvres'', directed by Jacques Audiard. She has also been ...

. It premiered on 25 September 2023 at the

71st San Sebastián International Film Festival The 71st San Sebastián International Film Festival ran 22–30 September 2023 in San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, Spain. The awards were announced on 30 September 2023, with '' The Rye Horn'' winning the Golden Shell, being the first film directed by ...

. It was released in France on 10 January 2024. The film is based on the real case of disgraced Belgian lawyer Victor Hissel.

Premise

"Having remained silent for 25 years, Astrid, the wife of a prominent lawyer, sees her family's equilibrium shatter when her children initiate their quest for justice."

Cast

Production

The screenplay was written chiefly by Lafosse with Thomas Van Zuylen. Chloé Duponchelle and Paul Ismaël served as co-writers. Sarah Chiche, Matthieu Reynaert, and Valérie Graeven are credited as writing collaborators. ''A Silence'' is a co-production between Stenola Productions (Belgium), Samsa Film (Luxembourg),

Les Films du Losange Les Films du Losange (, ), also known as Le Losange, is a film production, film distribution and international sales company founded by Barbet Schroeder and Éric Rohmer in 1962. History Les Films du Losange was founded by Barbet Schroeder and É ...

(France) and Prime Time (Belgium). It was co-produced by

RTBF The ("Belgian Radio-television of the French Community"), shortened to RTBF (branded as rtbf.be), is a public broadcasting, public service broadcaster for the French Community of Belgium, French-speaking Community of Belgium. Its counterpart i ...

Proximus Proximus (formerly known as Belgacom Mobile) is the largest of Belgium's three mobile telecommunications companies and is a part of Proximus Group (previously Belgacom Group). It competes with Orange Belgium and Base. History Proximus was f ...

, VOO, BE TV and France 3 Cinéma.

Release

''A Silence'' was selected to compete for the

Golden Shell The Golden Shell (; ) is the highest prize given to a competing film at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. It was introduced in 1957. In 1953 and 1954, the highest prize had been called the Gran Premio. In 1955 and 1956 it was replace ...

at the

, where the film had its world premiere on 25 September 2023. World sales are handled by Les Films du Losange, which also distributed the film in France on 10 January 2024. Samsa Film distributed the film in Luxembourg on 17 January 2024. Cinéart is set to theatrically release the film in Belgium on 24 January 2024.

Reception

Critical response

On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 82% based on 17 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. On

AlloCiné AlloCiné is an entertainment website founded by Jean-David Blanc in 1988, then joined by Patrick Holzman. It has belonged to the company since 2013 Webedia. which specializes in providing information on French cinema, mostly centering on nove ...

, the film received an average rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 28 reviews from French critics. Guy Lodge of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' wrote that "there is a gasping power to its staggered reveals, and a searching sadness to the emerging family portrait that outweighs the film's shock factor".

Accolades

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Silence, A 2023 films 2023 drama films 2020s Belgian films 2020s French films 2020s French-language films Belgian drama films Luxembourgian drama films French drama films French-language Belgian films Films directed by Joachim Lafosse France 3 Cinéma films Films about child sexual abuse Films about incest Films about dysfunctional families Belgian films based on actual events French films based on actual events Les Films du Losange films