Battered wives : a journey to the depths of marital hell | M6 | 66 minutes

It happened a year ago, in May 2007. Aurélie was 21, with two children and she loved life. At 10.30 pm she was in her car with her sister and was taking her to a friend’s. A car followed her and a man got out, raging with anger and threatening. He beat her, hit her with a log then pursued her through the forest. The young woman was found dead the next morning at the foot of a cliff. The killer was none other than her partner, the father of her children. Out of a sick jealousy, he refused to accept that Aurélie wanted to leave him. He killed her. Aurélie was the 166th victim of that sinister year, 2007. 166 women killed by marital violence in France, or one victim every two days or so. And that’s not all: in 2007, 47,573 acts of deliberate violence against women by their spouses or ex-spouses were reported to the police or the gendarmes. Although edifying, these figures are probably below the real ones. According to the National Crime Statistics Office, 410,000 women were victims of violence between 2005 and 2006. Even today, these women are still hesitant to bring charges: in less than 9% of cases when it concerns their spouse and more than 50% of cases where it concerns their former partner. Who are the victims of marital violence? And who are the aggressors? How does violence enter the relationship? What are the consequences on their children? And how do you get out of it? This film allows both victims and aggressors to speak.