L'Abandon © Guy Ferrandis
Rumors and disinformation: in Forsaken, Vincent Garenq reflects on Samuel Paty’s last days
According to Vincent Garenq (Kalinka; Guilty), “Everyone knows Samuel Paty’s name, but few people know his real story.” It is precisely this story that the filmmaker chronologically recounts in Forsaken, presented Out of Competition. Eleven days was all it took to seal this teacher’s tragic fate, a role delicately portrayed by Antoine Reinartz.
France has not forgotten the name Samuel Paty. It’s now also the name of the rechristened Conflans-Sainte-Honorine school, outside of which this History and Geography teacher was brutally killed and beheaded in the streets in broad daylight on October 16, 2020 after an unprecedented hate and disinformation campaign gone horribly wrong.
However, it seems that the title chosen by Vincent Garenq asks a question: is this posthumous portrait enough for the forsaken teacher? Can it make amends for the lack of support from the institutions and even some of his colleagues at the time of the events? What of those who tacitly approved the rumor and unwittingly helped sign his death sentence? Indeed, the story of Samuel Paty’s assassination is a gruesome spiral where guilty parties line up one next to the other. Based on the inquiries and the trial, L’Abandon meticulously reconstructs how every single event contributed to the victim’s ultimate encounter with his executioner.
It all started with a simple lie, an off-handed fib told by a young high school girl to her parents, like adolescents do the world over to justify cutting classes or hide poor grades. During a civics class dedicated to freedom of speech and the Charlie Hebdo attacks that had occurred five years prior, Samuel Paty shows the infamous cartoons of the prophet Muhammad. He makes sure to tell students that they do not have to look at the images should they feel uncomfortable and gives them the option to leave the classroom at any time. Nevertheless, a student, who had not even been in attendance that day, starts the rumor that Mr. Paty had stigmatized the Muslim students and a spark has been ignited. Social media fuels the fire of this confabulation and unleashes a beast with dramatic consequences that leave no one unaffected.
“Despite this nervousness and increasing fear, Samuel Paty does not give up. He asks questions, probes, but never feels guilty. He does, however, feel very much alone.” Antoine Reinartz.
Samuel Paty and the principal who stood by him through thick and thin are portrayed by two Festival de Cannes veterans, Antoine Reinartz and Emmanuelle Bercot. The former appeared in Anatomy of a Fall, Palme d’or 2023, the latter returns for the eleventh time having presented films both as a director (Standing Tall, Peaceful), and an actress (My King).
