Today at 11:00 – by Thomas Fourcroy
On Monday December 9 at 8:55 p.m., Arte broadcasts Die to love. A film based on the love with a tragic outcome between a 32-year-old literature teacher and her 17-year-old student.
After having been a lawyer in the 1930s, André Cayatte placed himself behind the camera to tell, in particular, the functioning of justice and its side effects. Troubled areas, without good and evil being really visible, shared through many films. In 1971, it was therefore quite natural that the filmmaker became interested in a news story that divided France, that of a forbidden love between a teacher and her student. This gave Die to loveworn by Annie Girardot and Bruno Pradal.
Die to love : A love thwarted by morality
Die to love takes us in the footsteps of a certain Danièle Guénot. Aged 32, this young divorced woman and mother of two children is a literature professor. Posted in Rouen, she took part in the events of May 1968 in her own way, by setting up discussions and other debates at her home, in order to challenge society as best as possible. It was during one of her events that one of her students fell in love with her. This is Gérard Leguen, aged 17. Little by little, their romance will take shape and grow, especially under the eyes of the teenager’s family. A clan deeply opposed to their love…
Gabrielle Russer and Christian Rossi, the tragic story of forbidden lovers
This story is that of Gabrielle Russer and Christian Rossi. If he took care to modify their names and their region, André Cayatte kept their statuses and their ages intact. A love between a teacher from Bouches-du-Rhône and one of her students, this will have divided a France stuck between the 1960s and 1970s. Initially, the parents of Christian Rossi will have filed a complaint against Gabrielle Russer for embezzlement of a minor. Incarcerated at the Baumettes penitentiary center for eight weeks, she will then receive twelve months in prison. A sentence erased by the election of Georges Pompidou as President of the Republic. However, the professor will see the Aix-en-Provence Academy do everything to prevent her from practicing. He will be refused a position and the prosecution will appeal his conviction. One month before her appeal trial scheduled for October 1969, Gabrielle Russer committed suicide at her home.
