The documentary The Women and The Murderer directed by Mona Achache and Patricia Touranchea and was released on September 9th, 2021.
The Women and The Murderer is based on a true crime that took place in France in the 90’s. From the year 1991 through 1997 serial killer, Guy Georges, had gruesomely murdered eight women. During this time France did not have a DNA database and there were many completely against it. Throughout the documentary the viewers are introduced to many women from attorneys, victims’ mothers and sisters, one victim that was able to get away and a court journalist. They all tell the story about how they all worked together to find, arrest, and prosecute Guy Georges in a field that was dominated primarily by men at the time.
The whole documentary takes place in France through their court system however, there are a lot of similarities to the US court system. There was the lead detective (inspector), Martine Monteil, the defence attorney, Frederique Pons, and the plaintiff attorney, Solange Doumic just like what would happen in a US trial. Guy Georges had been killing women from the early 90’s but wasn’t arrested and put on trial until 2001. This is where the statute of limitation would come into play. Guy Georges was given a fair trial, there was a jury, he had a lawyer, he was put on the stand for questioning just like any other trial would play out and it only lasted five days until he confessed on the stand, making his trial “speedy”.
I think The Women and The Murderer accurely potryes the legal field even though it isn’t based in the US.The documernrty shows the audience step by step before the trial even started, before they even knew who was killing these women in France. In the documentary, they present the evidence they had against him and talk about his confession and how long he would be going to prison for. I would recommend The Women and The Murderer because it shows how hard everyone worked to catch and prosecute Guy Georges. It shows the beginning all the way to the end and shows how powerful women can be even in a field that is dominated by men. It has made me more interested in the law and the legal profession seeing everything that goes into the trials and even before it.
