That's exactly how I interpreted it as well, and I wondered how realistic it could possibly be if these 14th century nuns' spoken lines were taken verbatim from the modern-day trial transcripts! Not to mention the problem of them being women who live in silence for the most part, as you also pointed out. Thanks for sharing what you found out... makes a lot more sense now!Feel free to laugh at me after reading this! This has to do with the play about the Pelicot trial and my confusion about the wording used in the first article I read.
Quoting from the article:
The play,
set inside a 14th-century Carmelite cloister,
lasts three hours and uses real transcripts from the trial
as well as police files, social commentary and psychiatric reports.
I’m laughing at myself for being so literal. Ever since I read about the play “The Pelicot Trial: Tribute to Gisèle Pelicot,” I’ve been quite puzzled. I haven’t been able to figure out how the play could be “set inside a 14th century Carmelite cloister.” The “setting” of a play is an integral part of the play, describing where and when the action is taking place, and that setting has an influence on the play. I cculd NOT figure out how setting the play about the Pelicot trial in a Carmelite cloistered convent could possibly have any relevance to the trial. And besides, Carmelite nuns spend most of their time in contemplative silence. How would that fit?
In my feeble defense, I live in a town with a live theatre festival, so this sort of wording definitely didn’t make sense to me. And I’m probably the only one here it would bother. I just had to get to the bottom of it. As the link below describes, the play is staged in the open air Carmelite cloister which seats 500 people. That is the theatre where the play is performed! What a difference a word makes, and what a relief. It is not set in a convent, thankfully not adding some kind of obscure symbolic imagery to the play about the trial. No silent nuns are involved in the play. You can laugh at me now! I can take it!All humor aside, it sounds as if the play has captured the intensity and meaning of this horrible case, as well as the courage of Giselle.
Quoting from this article:
‘It’s ourselves and society on trial’: playwright adapts Gisèle Pelicot case for stage
Case that exposed France’s rape culture and shocked the world has been made into play to be shown in Avignon, where trial was heldwww.theguardian.com
The performance is made up of staged readings of extracts from the trial, police files, social commentary and psychiatric reports. It looks at the 51 convicted and the question of how these men, including a nurse, a soldier, a journalist, a prison warden and delivery drivers, aged from 26 to 74, could travel to Pelicot’s home to rape her. More than 50 performers will read extracts from the trial, and those on stage will include a psychiatric expert from the case and court artists who were present at the trial.
Rau said it was important to stage the theatre piece in Avignon, where the trial took place and where crowds had gathered outside the court daily to cheer Gisèle Pelicot, and where the city walls were plastered with her quotes. It will be staged in a 14th-century open-air Carmelite cloister, with seats for 500 people, as part of the city’s renowned theatre festival.
BBM
GUILTY France, Dominique Pélicot, drugged wife of 50 years nightly, filmed rape by at least 51 men, 2011-2020
- Thread starter dotr
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I picked up on this line of your comment especially, because I was thinking it's even more like a Greek tragedy than Shakespeare, because it's all this betrayal between such close family members, and it's that intimacy that multiplies the horror.
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I don't understand. Can you spell it out for me please?
I’m so glad I’m not alone!
I take your point. Living in a town with a renowned Shakespeare Festival, I’m more oriented in that direction. The tragic play “King Lear” came to mind, but I’m sure there are Greek tragedies that are a closer fit in terms of the depravity and betrayal.
I just hope the whole family is receiving some kind of trauma-focused counseling.
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I think OP is suggesting that the daughter might be the product of one of the stranger rapes. Which we have no evidence either way for, and I don't think it would be victim friendly to speculate further.
MOO
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Not speculation about paternity regarding the daughter's father, but will leave it at that.
I fail to see how he “had no control” over it. He just didn’t WANT to stop.IMO!!!
DP seems to suffer from sexual deviancy - voyeurism - over which he has no control.
That is why he suggested "swingers' relationship" to the wife.
When she declined, he did it his way.
He is sick in the head.
I mean,
he probably cannot get satisfaction any other way.
That is why I think he restricted himself to watching & recording to watch later.
But, mind you,
this is only my THEORY
as I'm neither a sexologist
(a specialist who treats issues such as sexual dysfunctions),
nor a psychiatrist
JMO
Otherwise, we could argue that all criminals are victims who had no control over their actions.
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Breaking News on TV (n-tv) today in Ger:
Mme. Pelicot's husband suspected of more rapes. Further investigations.
Mme. Pelicot's husband suspected of more rapes. Further investigations.
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Oct 5 2025
www.theguardian.com
''The 72-year-old arrived at the appeals court in the southern French city of Nîmes on Monday with her youngest son, Florian, and shook hands with supporters.
Her lawyer, Antoine Camus, had said she would have preferred not to face the ordeal of attending another trial but would be present in court nonetheless. “She will be there to explain that a rape is a rape, that there is no such thing as a small rape,” Camus told Agence France-Presse.''
'Gisèle Pelicot, a former logistics manager, had insisted the first rape trial in 2024 be held in public to raise awareness of drug-induced rape and abuse. “It’s not for us to have shame, it’s for them,” she said in court.'
www.nytimes.com
''In the 10 days after the first trial, 17 of the men found guilty appealed. All have withdrawn their appeals but one: Husamettin Dogan.
Mr. Dogan, 44, lives with his wife and son in a small town an hour’s drive from where the Pelicots lived. He has never had a job for more than two years, according to the overview of the case by the investigative judge. He has a criminal record for drug trafficking.
During the original trial, Mr. Dogan, like many of the others, said he believed that Ms. Pelicot had consented and he did not accept being called a rapist.
One of Mr. Dogan’s lawyers, Jean-Marc Darrigade, said he would contest both his conviction for aggravated rape and his nine-year sentence.''
Gisèle Pelicot returns to court to face one of men convicted of raping her
The 72-year-old arrives for trial in Nîmes as Husamettin Dogan becomes only man out of 51 to appeal against conviction
Her lawyer, Antoine Camus, had said she would have preferred not to face the ordeal of attending another trial but would be present in court nonetheless. “She will be there to explain that a rape is a rape, that there is no such thing as a small rape,” Camus told Agence France-Presse.''
'Gisèle Pelicot, a former logistics manager, had insisted the first rape trial in 2024 be held in public to raise awareness of drug-induced rape and abuse. “It’s not for us to have shame, it’s for them,” she said in court.'
What to Know as Gisèle Pelicot Returns to Court for Man’s Appeal
The Frenchwoman who became a feminist icon came to confront one of the men convicted after her husband drugged her and invited them to rape her over nearly 10 years.
Mr. Dogan, 44, lives with his wife and son in a small town an hour’s drive from where the Pelicots lived. He has never had a job for more than two years, according to the overview of the case by the investigative judge. He has a criminal record for drug trafficking.
During the original trial, Mr. Dogan, like many of the others, said he believed that Ms. Pelicot had consented and he did not accept being called a rapist.
One of Mr. Dogan’s lawyers, Jean-Marc Darrigade, said he would contest both his conviction for aggravated rape and his nine-year sentence.''
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Not surprised in the slightest tbh
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