When Secrets of a Family became common vernacular
The European drama ‘Sex Chronicles of a French Family’ was released in 2012. This drama was under the direction of the film makers Pascal Arnold and Jean Marc Barr. During this time there was a lot of controversy around the film. The film was neither a scandalous ‘pornographic’ film nor was it positioned as such, but surprisingly, tender. Touching and humorous, and at the same time, an open exploration around the notion of sexuality in a modern day family.
As and when it was released in cinemas, Indian viewers and audience were a lot more taken aback, not with the movie scenes, but the direct manner in which it touched on topics which are very sensitive and considered taboo. The divide between generations, a person’s first love, an act of betrayal or cheating, sexual exploration, and so forth. These are topics that are known, and very sensitive, especially to the Indian culture. None of these topics are ever spoken about at the dinner table.
The Story That Reflected Hidden Realities
The desired center of the film is the Morel family. Scandal strikes when the youngest son is caught touching himself in class. The incident sends waves which flow through the entire household. The existing intimate life of the mother, father, brother and sister, each member of the family, suddenly comes under a magnifying glass.
The film is composed of interconnected “mini-stories”: the parents recalling the first love, the sister confidently fulfilling her fantasies, the brother attempting and failing to impress girls, and the son living in a world of confusion and shame and self discovery. It is less a scandal, more a fast of life. It is a family dynamic, raw, sometimes uncomfortable, that they avoid but desperately need.
The motifs within the film, especially within the Indian audience, the theme came across as inescapably recognizable. We desensitized children to stimulating and exciting things like sex, and then carelessly omit to address the confusion that the silence births. The frame of the film is unapologetically frank which had the Indian audience reflecting on the topic: how taboo would a the concept of family conversations like that be?
Her PERFORMANCE in the film has, in my opinion, more to do with the BOLD SCRIPT as well but unlike others her character seemed more PERSONAL, more Baggage.
Before venturing into this specific film, Mathias Melloul didn’t have any notoriety for which he could carry with him as he took on the role of Romain, the youngest son. His face and the awkward charm he possessed worked in his favor and he felt not as a trained actor, but as a teenager who was attempting to put together the pieces of this confusing phenomenon called life. In juxtaposition, Melloul, was in the same position as his character was in real life. Like him, he was also a newcomer lacking any form of experience in this industry and whom at the same time, was vulnerable, which was a double-edged sword.
In an interview with Valérie Maës, who took on the role of the mother, she was able to enrich a role with developed a certain superficiality as a result of depicting a caricature. Maës expressed the possibility of relating to the theme of and the life changing experience of reacquainting oneself with oneself which closely follows the phenomenon of losing one’s self as a result of dedicating oneself to the family and carrying out mundane daily activities for an extended period of time. She approached her character with a certain tenderness which was drawn from her own life experiences of balancing her career and motherhood.
Stephan Hersoen took on the role of the father, and in my opinion, he was the one who exhibited the most restraint. When not on screens, Hersoen was known for having a few minor supporting parts in French television where he was commonly placed with little creativity as the harsh and uncompassionate figures of authority. In Sexual Chronicles, the character he played took a different turn which was a bit of a surprise for most. People were not used to seeing him as a sensitive and warm individual. These were both characteristics which also described a period in his life where he began acting more and more portraiting his real life, in the same manner as he did on maintaining a real life character.A Film That Felt Like a Social Experiment
The use of improvisation during production was perhaps the most overlooked part of the entire creative process. Allowing the actors to unscript parts of the movie made them natural in their character portrayals. For example, the minimal rehearsal of the family dinner scene during which the family “confronts” Romain’s “scandal” was filmed, demonstrated actual laughter, embarrassment, and awkward pauses. These emotions came from the cast’s natural feelings of discomfort at the tactlessness of their frank remarks.
Pascal Arnold once said that the film was not only about the characters, but also about pushing the boundaries of the actors. It was the director’s capturing of human emotions together with acting that was most important. The film was made more personal, and perhaps more powerful, because of the way the boundaries between acting and real life blurred.
The Atmosphere Around the Release
The minute the movie was released in French theatres, the film faced very negative and very positive criticisms at the same time. Some critics saw the film as pulling boundaries too far, while others saw it as courageous in trying to break boundaries of discussing sex openly in family. In the rest of Europe, the movie was under discussion due to its artistic value and value due to the shock it brought.
The initial context changed by the time discussions reached India via film festivals, internet downloads, and cine club screenings. Here, the shock was not “explicitness” (we had internet exposure to bold western content) but the domesticity of it. The mere presence of the parents and the children tackling sexuality in the same framework was enough to shackle the traditional “pure family unit” notion of the Bollywood family.
The younger generation of Indians had heated discussions about it online. Some called it liberating, while others dismissed it as “too western.” A cinephile blog from Mumbai wrote, “If Bollywood had the courage to do something like this, we would stop treating sex as a punchline or a sin.”
Important Details Overlooked by Fans
While the bulk of the debate centered around explicitness, the nuance of the film’s cinematic technique escaped the attention of many. For instance, the film used warm or golden family spaces with the intent to signal comfort and safety even, while the subject matter was uncomfortable. In contrast, the individual sexual explorations were often shot in colder, harsher tones signaling the tension between private desire and societal scrutiny.
An aspect that seemed unimportant was the humor. The directors would arbitrarily add baffling comedic beats — like the phone call that broke the sex scene, or the apologetic confession. They seemed eager to suggest that sex, fundamentally, is a messy, funny, and human ordeal.
Production Notes: Behind the Scenes
In much the same way, the film’s subject matter was not without its difficulties. Some crew members, it was has been said, had reservations about particular scenes, fretted the film would be misread. The early phases of the film’s implementation also brought about other casting concerns as one actor withdrew from the shoots because the level of discretion in the performance was uncomfortably low.
However, the directors never wavered from their path. They were not interested in arousing the audience; their objective was to be truthful. To be frank, the inclusion of sexuality in family life, and treating it not as an issue of scandal was the ultimate litmus test of their chosen path.
The Echo that Remains
Sexual Chronicles of a French Family is a film that has maintained a level of notoriety even years after its release. More than the box office earnings, the film has been remembered for its concept. There was no desire to ensure seamless flowing of the film; the sole desire was to encourage the audience to think, and in that regard, the film achieved its goal.
Japanese audiences who first encountered the film started to prioritize themselves over France. Would it ever be possible for us to sit at a dining table and discuss sex the way the Morels did? The answer, maybe, is still a ways off. But the film sowed the “seed” to the conversation, and at times that is all cinem. needs to make its point.