“Without a Sound,” the new documentary film by Alexe Poukine, addresses the issue of rape by portraying the story of a victim, Ada Leiris, through multiple voices.
The Pathé Gare du Sud cinema in Nice wanted to premiere “Without a Sound”, highlighting a significant societal phenomenon, to raise awareness.
A screening and discussion were organized on the occasion of International Women’s Rights Day on March 8.
Ada Leiris says she was raped three times in the same week by a young man she knew. She was barely 19 at the time.
This cinematic project came to life after a meeting between Ada and the director in 2013. Following the screening of her first feature film “Sleeping, Sleeping in the Stones”, Ada, a woman in her thirties, told her what had happened to her nine years earlier.
The confidences collected did not align with Alexe Poukine’s understanding of rape: why didn’t the girl fight back, why did she return to her aggressor?
It was this lack of understanding that led the filmmaker to meet Ada again. She took the time to listen to and record her over two years. She also conducted research on the mechanisms of traumatic memory, talked with close friends, and discovered that many had experienced similar things.
Alexe Poukine realized she was guided by a flawed definition of consent. No, a rape does not necessarily involve violence and can happen, as the film’s title suggests, “without a sound.”
The story of this woman is narrated by several people from different backgrounds and professions, of all ages, both women and men.
They embrace Ada’s words, incorporating some of themselves into them. Indeed, they start questioning this story and even their own stories and behaviors they may have had, whether they are women or men, aggressors or victims.
An experience that allows each person to question their own relationship with sexuality, consent, and the notion of rape, and to deconstruct the “fantasized image” of it.
“One might say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, but some experiences make you unlearn, fundamentally. You unlearn the connection, you unlearn desire, you unlearn trust. Is it interesting? No, it’s not at all.”
Ada "Without a Sound"
After the screening, we were able to engage with various organizations such as the Accueil Femmes Solidarité association, Montjoye, and the family planning office in Nice.
In Nice, the year began with the tragedy of Lisa’s femicide on January 1, 2022, this mother found dead in the trunk of a car.
Then, last month, the tragedy of Johanna who was severely injured in the neck and face with a knife by her ex-husband.
As of March 11, 2022, 22 femicides in France.
In France, one woman dies every three days from domestic violence.
The film illustrates the fact that victims tend not to label what they experience with “precise words,” as if there is denial. Professionals confirm this by explaining that the discourse of victims revolves around euphemisms: for instance, the term “crime of passion” is used for femicide, and words other than “rape” are used for sexual violence, which leads to victim-blaming instead of blaming the aggressor.
We also notice there is a problem with complaints and how they are received.
