Lucas Belvaux's '38 Témoins' Examines Collective Guilt Through a Murder in Le Havre

Lucas Belvaux's 2012 film '38 Témoins' (38 Witnesses) is a psychological drama set in a residential neighborhood of Le Havre, where a young student is brutally stabbed to death at night. The body is found the next morning, but none of the 38 potential witnesses—whose apartment windows faced the crime scene—claim to have seen or heard anything. The narrative centers on Pierre (Yvan Attal), a naval pilot who, consumed by guilt, confesses to the police that he heard the victim's screams and that everyone in the neighborhood must have heard them too. This confession undermines the other 37 testimonies, leading the prosecutor to consider collective charges for failure to assist a person in danger. However, no charges are filed, and the girl's funeral proceeds with hypocritical public mourning. The film ends with a police reconstruction of the crime, emphasizing the community's indifference. Loosely based on Didier Decoin's novel 'Est-ce ainsi que les femmes meurent?', which itself was inspired by the 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese in New York, the film shifts from noir to psychological drama, using static, repetitive scenes to critique collective apathy. The article was published in Artribune Magazine #29.