In Through The Night, a woman and a man have an encounter that involves sex and fear. There are a few questions that require answers. Was there violence? Was the sex consensual? Who is lying about what transpired? Is it right that the man has ended up arrested by the police? What happens now?
In Delphine Girard’s feature debut, which won the Audience Award at the 2023 Giornate degli Autori, she uses the same premise, characters, and actors as her short film A Sister, and all of these questions are important. By design, Girard doesn’t quite supply the answers until much later in her film, by showing a dispassionate but definitive account of what happened that night.
Nonetheless, some of what happened is clear. A man named Dary and a woman named Aly meet at a party one night. There’s a bit of flirting between the pair. There’s a kiss. At that point, all is well with the world: boy has met girl and there are sparks. They decide to repair elsewhere together, leaving the scene of the party. In the car, something happens that leads Aly to make a call. Dary thinks she’s speaking to her sister. Actually, her call is to the police. A woman answers the call and plays along with the ruse, while trying to get a sense of Aly’s location. Dary becomes increasingly irate as he drives; Aly sounds scared. Sometime later, the car is stopped by the police and Dary is arrested.
Girard purposefully cuts out a part of what has happened for a later reveal, a decision which turns her story into a semi-mystery. But Through the Night isn’t just a he-said, she-said thriller because Anna, who picks up the call to the police, becomes involved. This particular call appears to awaken her curiosity and empathy, perhaps buoyed by her own experience, which isn’t directly addressed or shown.
Girard’s film is making an oblique point: a fellowship of sexual brutality exists between women. That fellowship becomes a part of the story as, after the night is over, Aly, Dary, and Anna’s lives are examined in subsequent scenes.
Aly says she was raped. Dary says she wasn’t, that they had consensual sex. The former situation leads to questioning sessions, which the woman is visibly discomfited by. As one interrogator tells her, “I believe you but in law terms, it’s intangible.” What is tangible, it seems, is evidence. What that evidence might be for a crime that frequently occurs with only the perpetuator and his victim present is the precise juncture punishment fails to meet crime.
In Through the Night, part of the problem is that Aly doesn’t quite fit the picture of a docile, ideal victim. She was at a party, and she did kiss the man she says raped her. Why should anyone believe her version of events? During questioning, she bristles as though there are parts of her life that would wither if discussed with law enforcement. Plus, she did get into the car with him.
For the director (who is also the screenwriter) the tale of that night can (and perhaps should) be viewed through the eyes of a third party, which in this case is Anna, the woman at the other end of Aly’s call. The film’s screenplay hints at her own trauma and how it has led her to be drawn to Aly.
It is through her obvious empathy that the film’s protagonist comes to be seen as more sympathetic. Girard appears to be cleverly playing with the audience’s own sympathies before the film reveals what happened in the vehicle that night.
That suspense, though, isn’t quite the point of Through the Night. Before the night’s encounter is revealed, the viewer is treated to the altered emotional landscape of Aly and Dary. We see how an accusation of rape affects a man who also has women as part of his family. We also see how such an accusation changes the victim, who still has to deal with men and own her own body.
In the wake of the MeToo movement, Girard has chosen a big topic for her first feature. It is to her credit that her film doesn’t buckle under its weight.
Director, screenplay: Delphine Girard
Cast: Selma Alaoui, Guillaume Duhesme, Veerle Baetens, Anne Dorval, Adèle Wismes
Producer: Jacques-Henri Bronckart
Cinematography: Juliette Van Dormael
Editing: Damien Keyeux
Music: Ben Shemie
Sound: Pablo Villegas
Production design: Eve Martin
Production Company: Versus Production
Venue: Venice Film Festival
108 minutes
