Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s strand in which, each fortnight, we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films that have had an impact in their local territory. The industry is as global as it’s ever been. With breakout hits appearing in pockets of the world all the time, it can be hard to keep track… we’re going to do the hard work for you.

This week we profile a powerful documentary film out of France, Drugged and Abused: No More Shame. It follows Caroline Darian, daughter of Gisèle Pelicot, the French woman drugged and raped by her husband and the people he invited to also abuse her. Darian narrates the film, which generated a sizable audience for France 2. Gisèle Pelicot’s bravery in waiving her anonymity meant the eyes of the world were on her husband’s trial. International interest in the film is, thusly, high.

Name: Drugged And Abused: No More Shame

Country: France

Network: France 2

Producer: CAPA

For fans of: Powerful documentaries with a message

Distributor: Newen Connect

News outlets from around the world descended upon Avignon, southern France, last December as the three-month trial of Dominique Pelicot concluded. He was given the maximum 20-year sentence for drugging and raping his wife, Gisèle Pelicot, over several years, and inviting scores of men to abuse her too. France and the wider world were appalled. Gisèle’s courage in waiving her right to anonymity and making the trial public allowed the full shocking story to be told.

Her daughter, Caroline Darian, has also used her voice to affect change. It is her story that is told – and her voice that is heard – in Drugged and Abused: No More Shame. The documentary film follows her ahead of the trial and shows her efforts to highlight what the filmmakers describe as “the shocking reality of drug-facilitated sexual assault.”

The title speaks to the producers’ desire to shift the notion of shame in rape cases from victim to perpetrator. The project follows Darian who speaks exclusively about her mother and experience of the trial. After months of legal and psychological preparation, she confronts her fears in the film of watching the videos of her mother’s assaults, of how she would react to her father, and about the photos of her, unconscious and undressed, which were found by investigators.

This is much more than a true crime story. It captures how Darian became a whistleblower and brought the issue of drug and chemically induced rape and sexual assault to the attention of the wider public, as well as to French lawmakers.

“Four years ago, when France discovered this terrible case, we were all stunned, but everybody saw it like true crime, as a terrible but isolated story,” says Andréa Rawlins-Gaston. She produced the feature-length doc with Patrice Lorton under the CAPA banner and Linda Bendali directed. “We immediately felt there was something more to it, that it wasn’t just one case, that this modus operandi of drugging a person to abuse her might be the tip of the iceberg.”

Rawlins-Gaston approached Darian over two years ago and the team filmed throughout 2024. Initially, however, the producer met with resistance, she recalls. “Caroline’s first reaction was: ‘I don’t want to participate; you’re the twentieth producer to ask. I don’t want any sensationalism around this story. It’s very intimate. It’s very painful.’”

The producer requested that Darian look at CAPA’s previous work – “We’ve been denouncing sexual violence for more than 20 years in our documentaries,” she says – and that ultimately persuaded her this was a worthwhile project.

“She called me and was very emotional, but also more motivated than ever, and said: That’s exactly what I want to do. I want the case of my mother, and as part of a documentary with other survivors, to show that this is systemic and that there are probably thousands of victims.’ The idea was to call on society and the politicians to do something about it.”

With Darian on board as both narrator and subject, the producers duly set out to make a film that captured her story, as well as that of others.

“First, there’s a personal angle, which is about how do you survive when something like this befalls you,” says Rawlins-Gaston.” Over two years, she prepares for this trial, she goes and sees her lawyers, she prepares with her friends, and there’s this chronicle. That’s one part of the documentary.”

The second element follows Darian’s work as a whistleblower, following her as she helps raise consciousness and works with victims. The film has contributions from several other victims of sexual assault facilitated by drugs including French MP Sandrine Josso.

Darian narrates. “The voice is hers – she’s a character and the narrator. She explains during the documentary the different aspects of chemical submission; the drugs that make you have an eight-hour blackout. And then you meet with others who were drugged and who are searching what happened during those hours.”

The documentary received a lot of attention in France, where it was much anticipated. Produced for public broadcaster France Télévisions, it played on the France 2 channel in a primetime slot on January 21, garnering 1.6 million viewers.

CAPA is part of Newen Studios. Newen Connect is across sales and it is a key title for the distributor at the ongoing London TV Screenings.

The trial of Dominique Pelicot was a huge international news story. French reports suggest 165 media outlets covered the court proceeding, 76 of which were foreign. The BBC and Guardian in the UK have carried interviews with Darian. German Vogue dedicated its cover to the story – and gave Newen approval to use that as inspiration for the Drugged and Abused: No More Shame key art, which is by the same illustrator, Cecilia Lundgren.

Suffice to say, international interest is high. The doc has already been picked up by Movistar (Spain), ORF (Austria), Radio Canada (Canada), RTBF and VRT (Belgium), SRF (Switzerland), SVT (Sweden) and YLE (Finland). Newen says more deals are in the offing.

Meanwhile, Rawlins-Gaston says spending time with Darian had an effect on the team, but that only hardened their resolve to make a difference.

“Of course you are moved. Of course, it’s terrible. Sometimes you don’t sleep well at night, but you are overwhelmed by a desire to change society, to make an impact movie, to change mentalities. We wanted to make politicians understand that this is not just a true crime; it shouldn’t be treated as just another news story.”