The fight of actress Céline Sallette to raise consciences

“It is very difficult to hear incest for us as a company”. Céline Sallette was the guest of Thibaut Gauthier in Le Figaro at night Tuesday, April 29. The actress engaged in her work of documentation of incest acts in France. Last year, she presented as a director, Nikihis first film, in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The feature film is dedicated to the life of the activist Niki de Saint Phalle, victim of rape by her father at the age of eleven.

The filmmaker explains that “Society is not used to seeking evidence of incest”. “In most cases, children have very visible, very obvious trauma but we do not know how to connect the points to say that it is incest”she insists. Céline Sallette draws up the picture of a population that “Do not want to believe it”. However, this information is open sources.

This is what the director indicates that she had discovered in preparation for her first film: “The first time I hit incest on the internet, I came across a site that broadcast incest videos.”. The CIIVISE (independent commission on incest and sexual violence against children) had revealed in 2023 that a child was the victim of incest, rape or sexual assault every three minutes.

“No one wants to know that”

Céline Sallette is currently looking at a documentary entitled The struggle. She wishes to document the daily life of Sophie Abida, a so -called “protective mother” woman, who begins steps to protect her children of paternal incest. “When children say they were crime, no one in adults listens to them,” She insists with Thibaut Gauthier.

For the actress, it is important to make these stories visible. They make it possible to raise awareness and arouse change. “We will know the symptoms better. The more we talk about that, the more we will shed light on that, the more this darkness will be reduced ”, she believes.

This week, Céline Sallette is playing in the French series Damnbroadcast on Max on May 2. Directed by Jean-Charles Hue and Olivier Prieur, she will play the head of a gypsy community alongside Damien Bonnard and Pablo Cobo.