Aperitif-Cinema: The House of Women

Apéro-Ciné : La maison des femmes Projection + 14 years There are films that are necessary, and that do good. La Maison of women, first feature film by Mélisa Godet, belongs to this category of works that illuminate reality without ever exploiting it. Inspired by the work led at the Maison des femmes in Saint-Denis, the film plunges us into a unique place, where women victims of violence come to seek much more than care: a space where to be heard, believed, accompanied, and where to find little by little the possibility to rebuild oneself. At the Maison des femmes, Diane, Manon, Inès, Awa, and their colleagues welcome every day those who cross the door with their wounds, their silences, their fears, but also their immense strength of life. Doctors, caregivers, companions, and patients form a fragile and determined community, engaged in the same fight: to repair what violence has damaged, to restore confidence, to allow each one to become again the subject of her own history. The great strength of the film lies in its precision. Mélisa Godet avoids the spectacular and voyeurism: the violence is never shown frontally, it surfaces in the stories, the gazes, the gestures. The film chooses not to reduce these women to their status as victims, but to show their courage, their dignity, and their path toward reconstruction. Carried by a remarkable distribution, La Maison of women also tells the humanity of those who care. Their convictions, their fatigue, their personal fragilities, and their inexhaustible energy remind us that standing tall, in such a place, is also a matter of collective. Without heavy discourse, the film reminds us that the defense of rights passes through very concrete places: places where one listens, where one believes, where one cares, where one supports. More than a film about violence, La Maison of women is a work about the attention paid to the other, about solidarity, and about this fragile power that allows, sometimes, to start living again. In collaboration with PAC WAPI and the non-profit De Maux à Mots. Crédits Karin Viard / Laetitia Dosch / Eye Haïdara / Oulaya Amamra / Juliette Armane Réalisation Mélisa Godet