Actor and director Samuel Theis (Anatomy of a Fall, Party Girl) accused of rape

The events allegedly took place on the sidelines of the filming of I Swear, the production of which he completed in quarantine. An unprecedented protocol in French cinema.

Shortly after the victory ofAnatomy of a fall at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, one of its actors, Samuel Theis – who plays the victim in Justine Triet’s legal drama – has started filming another trial film, directed by himself this time, entitled I swear. But on the night of June 30 to July 1, the director allegedly abused a member of the team while under the influence of alcohol. The production took the matter very seriously and implemented a unique protocol to be able to complete the filming while protecting the team: the director finished the shots “in quarantine”, away from the main stage. Here are the details provided by Release And Teleramaboth of whom investigated the case.

Noted for his previous achievements, Party Girl (co-created with Marie Amachoukeli and Claire Burger) and Small type, Samuel Theis hired Louise Bourgoin, Marina Foïs, Micha Lescot, but also several amateur actors for his trial film dealing with the difficulty of doing justice, whose script amazed Avenue B Productions. Caroline Blanchard, who had already supported the director’s previous film, and who is also part of the 50/50 Collective, once again supported Samuel Theis on this project, but when he was accused of rape by a stagehand during an evening organized on the sidelines of filming, she took the matter seriously with her production team.

Samuel Theis, Sandra Hüller, Antoine Reinartz, Milo Machado Graner, Justine Triet, Swann Arlaud and Arthur Harari during the Anatomy of a Fall photocall at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.

A new protocol

The stagehand specifically accuses the director of having taken advantage of his state of intoxication to subject him to non-consensual sexual acts. The film’s scriptwriter, who shared the apartment rented by Theis during filming, would have witnessed their lovemaking for a moment, which she did not think could be imposed by one or the other. Faced with this accusation, of which Samuel Theis firmly denies the side “not consented”, the complainant decided to leave the filming. Which raised legal questions: the accusation of rape concerning a party organized on the sidelines of filming, could the case be considered a work accident? Could the accuser be compensated following his sudden departure?

Faced with these questions, production offered legal assistance to the complainant, and hired an investigator specializing in employee rights to analyze this specific case. During the investigations, an unprecedented decision was taken to be able to continue shooting while protecting the other members of the team. From July 10 and for a fortnight of shooting, Samuel Theis was sidelined, confined in a room outside the sets. He could give instructions via walkie-talkie to his assistants while supervising the shots via a video monitor. Employees – actors or members of the technical team – who wished to communicate with him directly could visit him, but he was prohibited from coming to the main set.

This approach would have been welcomed by most of the film’s employees, although restrictive. “We had to try to imagine a solution that would allow this film to go to the end whatever the legal outcome of this case, thus explains anonymously one of the actors of I swear has Release. We sought the lowest common denominator which preserves everyone and does not undermine either the presumption of innocence or the possibility of guilt: a safe space has been arranged.”

Avenue B productions justifies the implementation of this unprecedented protocol by the specific temporality of a film shoot: “On a shoot, we rented a certain room for a particular setting on a particular day, an actor is available at a particular time: you cannot afford to interrupt the filming or wait for the expert’s conclusions before acting. They will arrive well after the end clap. And yet, as an employer, you are under a legal obligation to protect everyone, in an extremely limited time, with fairly limited means at your disposal, and without any certainty about the guilt of the accused.”

Petite nature: a gripping and sensitive survival story for children (review)

And now ?

I swear is currently in post-production, and the investigation is ongoing, since a complaint has been filed, specifies Telerama. The film does not have a release date. Will it be able to be released in the cinema? Ad Vitam had already signed to distribute it, before the scandal broke. Could this affair prevent Samuel Theis from finishing it? Speaking to the same cultural magazine, the stagehand who blames the director explains having already suffered from the highly publicized release ofAnatomy of a falllast August, but it does not call into question the artistic qualities of I swear : “This has been a little hard to live with. The posters everywhere, the friends talking about it… Ideally, I would like the film to be released, but without Samuel Theis’ name in the credits.”

This weekend, receiving two Golden Globes for Anatomy of a fallJustine Triet thanked all her actors, except Samuel Theis, whose absence was noted.

Anatomy of a Fall by Justine Triet scores a historic double at the Golden Globes