(Book by Gisèle Pelicot,
translated by Natasha Lehrer and Ruth Diver. Review by Margaret von Klemperer)
From the moment Gisèle Pelicot’s husband confessed to her that he had been caught upskirting – taking photographs up women’s skirts – in a local supermarket, until he was convicted of having drugged and raped her over almost ten years, and of inviting other men to come and do the same while he filmed them, she lived an unbelievable nightmare.
Her story is powerful, frightening and ultimately a tribute to the human spirit, personified in the character of one basically ordinary but almost unimaginably brave woman, who decided, as the subtitle says, that she was not the person who should be ashamed. Her demand for an open court infuriated all of the accused but it was her right.
In A Hymn to Life, Gisèle tells of her childhood which was shattered by her mother’s early death and her beloved father’s remarriage to a cold and unpleasant woman. She met Dominique Pelicot when she was young, and when both of them were young and unsure of themselves – he also had an unhappy childhood, with an abusive father – they married and became what Gisele saw as a happy couple, always short of money but in love and determined to make a good life for themselves. She admits that all she ever wanted was a conventional, quiet existence.
The book intersperses the past as Gisèle remembers it with what happened after the police informed her of the videos they had discovered on Dominique’s computer and phone and which led to the complete overturning of her life. Her initial reaction was one of disbelief, but the evidence was there, and she details the steps she went through to confront it. And, as she says, she worked her way towards the “need to isolate the past from the present”. In a marriage that had lasted as long as hers had, of course there were many happy memories. She had to find a way to separate them from what she now knew had happened.
One continuing tragedy is the effect the whole saga has had on the wider family. Dominique and Gisèle have three children, and since his arrest, Gisèle’s relationship with the two older ones has become very difficult, although there are now signs that it will heal. It shows how people, faced with trauma, react in different ways. Despite all that has happened, Gisèle still has faith in people, something that she admits was once her greatest weakness, but, as she rebuilds her life and embarks on a new and healing relationship, has also been her greatest strength.
The final quarter of the book which deals with the trial of Dominique and the other accused, the men who were identified from the horrific videos on his devices, is incredibly gripping. What Gisèle went through, confronting her former husband and the others in court as she had to see and hear the evidence is incredible. She somehow had to find a way to separate the man she saw in the videos from the man she had shared her life with – an almost impossible task as she asked herself if the person she had loved had ever existed.
The whole experience has changed Gisèle Pelicot, and shaken many attitudes that once were, and sadly in many cases still are, prevalent in the world. I will end this review with a quote from the author: “Every day people thank me for my courage. I want to tell them this is not courage, but a deep urge and determination to change our patriarchal, sexist society”. Let us hope A Hymn to Life can take a step towards that. – Margaret von Klemperer
A Hymn to Life is published by The Bodley Head - ISBN: 9781847928979
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