SYNOPSIS
The everyday work of Brussels judge Anne Gruwez ranges from questioning suspects to visiting crime scenes and directing DNA tests in consultation with detectives. So Help Me God observes the events unfolding in the judge’s chambers and beyond, without interviews, commentary or music. Given the nature of the content, it's remarkable that the filmmakers were allowed to film it all. The personality of the outspoken central character is strikingly offbeat, and she sometimes takes a decidedly politically incorrect tone in her relations with colleagues and suspects. The conversations themselves are also extraordinary: sometimes comical, as the judge asks a sex worker about her clients’ bizarre requests, and sometimes disconcerting, when she listens impassively to the story of a woman who murdered her eight-year-old son. Truth sometimes proves to be far more shocking than fiction.
CAST & CREW
Jean Libon
Director
Producer(s)
Bertrand Faivre
Script
Jean Libon, Yves Hinant
Director of Photography
Didier Hill-Derive
Sound
Yves Goossens Bara, David Gillain
Edit
Françoise Tourmen
Cast
Anne Gruwez.
Production company(ies)
Le Bureau
Jean Libon
Jean Libon graduated from the Arts and Diffusion Institute (I.A.D. – Brusseles) in the "image" section in 1970, he then worked until 1976 on the documentary series Faits Divers. From 1977 to 1985, he became image reporter for the documentary magazine A Suivre. He then traveled the world and received numerous prizes including one for Faut pas plonger (in which he follows , along with Marco Lamensch, a drug addict couple for 18 months) and Les Russes attaquent à l’aube (which follows day to day a Belgium station in Germany). In 1985, he creates with Marco Lamensch a documentary series Strip-Tease, which will be broadcasted for nearly 20 years on France 3 and on the RTBF.
Filmography
So Help Me God (2017).
Yves Hinant
Director
Yves Hinant
Yves Hinant graduated in journalism from the Université Libre de Bruxelles, he was a sports journalist at the RTBF for two years. He then joined the Strip-Tease team in 1984, which is a documentary series produced and directed by Jean Libon and Marco Lamensch. He directed around thirty films and many documentaries for the programme Tout ça ne nous rendra pas le Congo.
Filmography
The Referees (2009), So Help Me God (2017).
