Abused by a priest during his childhood, Jérôme Clément-Wilz decided, after years, to file a complaint against him. Built like a personal diary, “Ceci est mon corps” tells the story of the director’s journey with justice and his family. A courageous and necessary documentary.
A talented and unique director, Jérôme Clément-Wilz has been interested in numerous themes throughout his professional career: nightlife, desires for elsewhere, alcoholism, Arab springs, romantic encounters, and even sexual practices around the world. Always with this desire to film reality, while bringing a touch of magic to it.
Today, the former resident of the Villa Medici in Rome returns with a punchy film. “Ceci est mon corps” is a first-person documentary in which the French forty-year-old recounts how he was abused by Olivier de Scitivaux de Greische, priest of the diocese of Orléans, when he was a child. Once the complaint was filed, Jérôme Clément-Wilz took hold of his camera in 2018 and filmed for six years his meetings with lawyers, his research in the family archives, the place where he suffered repeated attacks from the priest, but also the denial of his parents and the culture of silence shared by an entire community.
A cathartic approach
From the start there is this desire to reconstruct the puzzle of memories of a childhood shattered by the trauma of sexual violence. “I had already forgotten so much of my childhood, and in particular the violence I had suffered, that I said to myself: ‘this time they are not going to take it away from me'”, admits the director in the 12:45 p.m. of January 6.
“I started recording compulsively because I thought that everything was super important. And then, it wasn’t very long after the beginnings of MeToo, and I realized that in the stories I heard about people who were victims of sexual violence, few of them had a present. When I started the procedure, I realized that it would be a hassle without a name, that I didn’t want to be a victim, that no one supported me, that no one heard me and that it would be a whole process about ‘becoming a victim,’ he continues.
>> To see, the interview with Jérôme Clément-Wilz in the 12:45 p.m.
No longer be alone
Throughout his process, Jérôme Clément-Wilz discusses with his parents, he is confronted with silence, even denial. “My film tells not only the difficulty of carrying out a legal procedure, but also that of not being listened to or supported by the people from whom I expected the most. With my mother, the release of the film was important because I have the impression that reality is now recorded with her, and that we can move forward on a little more solid foundation. With my father, I have the impression that it is still a little difficult for him to take his responsibilities. The trial, then the film, are new stages. I hope it continues to move forward,” says the director.
The production of “Ceci est mon corps” also allowed Jérôme Clément-Wilz to no longer feel alone. “The people who have accompanied me the most, the most supported me since the beginning are part of my team: they are my producer, my producer. And then, the fact of showing the film in theaters participates in a collective movement. That is to say, my story becomes a political object. Very beautiful things happen in the theaters, especially when discussing the film. All that helps me look this story in the face.”
Comments collected by Julie Evard.
Web adaptation: Sarah Clément.
“This is my body” by Jérôme Clément-Wilz, in cinemas since January 7, 2026.