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I, Pierre Rivière, Having Slaughtered My Mother, My Sister and My Brother… (1976)

I, Pierre Rivière, Having Slaughtered My Mother, My Sister and My Brother… (1976)

Drama Crime
Release Date: 1976, October 27
Directors: René Allio
Countries: France
Production: Les Films de l'Arquebuse, Les Films de l'Arquebuse, Polsim Productions, Polsim Productions, SFP, SFP, INA, INA
Cast: François Regnault, Claude Hébert, Jacqueline Milliere, Joseph Leportier, Annick Gehan

Overview:

Based on documents compiled by leading French philosopher Michel Foucault, this unique and original film charts the gruesome events which took place in a Normandy village in 1835, when a young man, Pierre Rivière, murdered his mother, sister and brother before fleeing to the countryside. With a cast made up of real-life villagers from the area where the events took place, the detailed re-enactments and careful attention to the gestures of their ancestors serve to create an intense and sometimes disturbing atmosphere of hyper-realism. Details of the crime and of the trial that followed are told from varied perspectives, including the written confession of Pierre himself, and form a rich and complex narrative that interrogates the concepts of “truth” and “history”.

Keywords:

philosophy based on true story murder infidelity punishment family conflict power relations parricide