Genealogies of a Crime

Genealogies of a Crime (Généalogies d'un crime) is a 1997 French-Portuguese film directed by Chilean filmmaker Raúl Ruiz. The story centers on a young psychiatrist who agrees to defend René, her patient, after he is accused of killing his psychoanalyst aunt; as the trial unfolds, the case raises unsettling questions about guilt, identity and the practice of analysis itself. The screenplay draws on the real Hermine Hug-Hellmuth affair, a notorious episode in the early history of psychoanalysis. Catherine Deneuve and Bernadette Lafont head the cast. The film opened in France in March 1997 and competed at the 47th Berlin International Film Festival, where it earned the Silver Bear for an outstanding artistic contribution. Although it reached American screens in 1998, it only appeared on DVD in 2005 and has since featured in several anthologies of Ruiz's work.