A victim of violence, Marilyne is determined to seek help but falls into a world of indifference.
When we started writing, we embarked on a journey of interviews and research. Twenty women came forward. Maryline and her struggles to express her experience with violence are inspired by those interviews. Some extracts were kept as is in the film to make sure their voices were heard. “Why didn’t you report it ?” Any woman who speaks up is asked this question, yet only they know how patriarchal violence thrives in endless bureaucracy and the silence of loved ones. “Why didn’t you say something ?” This film is our answer.
We wanted to show how it feels to report violence, especially sexual violence, and how it is made harder by a system build by patriarchy. We used all the tools made available by the medium of animation : endless corridors, crazy architectures and condescending words hissed by characters half humans-half animals in a kafkaesque world, and more. An ordinary woman, Maryline, walks towards her goal, determined to go through all this. Her eyes, the only element made of live-action footage, looks right at you, at us.
Her name is not an innocent choice. We named her after Marylin Monroe, a shy brilliant woman objectified and violated by men. Like Maryline, her voice was neither heard nor listened.
We hope the story of Maryline and the voices she carries resonated with you as much as it did with us.
