Le Procès d'une vie

They all come from the same modest background; some are friends, while others don’t know each other yet. They don’t share the same temperaments, the same beliefs, or the same ways of standing tall. But they share the same humanity: a fierce determination to rescue Marie-Claire—a 16-year-old who is pregnant—from the fate that society seeks to impose on her. Together, they forge a clandestine bond of solidarity, defy the law, and help the young girl have an abortion. On the day they all find themselves charged, another woman enters the scene: attorney Gisèle Halimi, determined to turn their story into a collective struggle that will become the trial of a lifetime.

As an extension of Gisèle Halimi’s efforts and those of the association “Choisir la cause des femmes,” Barbara Lamballais and Karina Testa draw loose inspiration from her life and the Bobigny Trial to retrace how the greatest victories can arise from solidarity and collective determination.