Quarto 2806: A Acusação

"L'Affaire Dominique Strauss-Kahn" both pre-empted, and encapsulated, the later "MeToo" scandal. To an ordinary mortal, it's a strange and disturbing story. DSK, as he was known, was head of the International Monetary Fund and the favourite to be elected the next President of France. Clever, charming and (thanks to his 3rd marriage) rich, DSK was accused of sexually attacking a hotel maid apropos of nothing; he was thrown in gaol, but later released when the prosecutors decided they couldn't trust his alleged victim. But another similar allegation emerged, and he was subsequently unsuccesfully prosecuted in France on the charge of pimping. This latter prosecution seems to have always been misguided: he was involved in prostitution but only as a client. But the story is still extraordinary: that there was, it seemed, an international organisation existing for the sole purpose of providing him with women for sex wherever he travelled, and even then, his relationship to the concept of consent appears to have been weak. Even today, many of the great and the good of French society are willing to appear in this documentary to defend him, or laugh off his behaviour, as if it is absurd to expect a man in his position to treat women with decency and respect. It seems to me that one part of the problem is simply the huge imbalance of wealth and status in our society (coupled of course with underlying sexism); DSK was in a position to live a certain form of fantasy life, and while that is not (and can not) be a crime per se (the alleged assaults are obviously a different matter), if you get to play King, you inevitably become less human as a result. At the end of this compellling series, it's much easier to feel sympathy for the women he encountered than for DSK himself, who seems to have escaped any reckoning. Even if you don't believe DSK to be a rapist, we do not see a flattering portrait of our world here.

Sued into poverty. His wife thought she was so cool putting up with his shennanigans but I see her as nothing but an enabler. So much for the flirtatious loving French. They come off pretty grubby in this series. Thank you NF for refreshing my memory about him and his doings.

Interesting to watch if you want to know more about this case. Not worth watching otherwise. Just a pity it does not offer DSK's take on the case.

The documentary is certainly well made and comprehensive but it does not add much the facts already known. The case was very muddy 10 years ago and still is: the victim was a weak witness (as in most of these cases) and the powerful forces deployed by the defendant made it even muddier. So the acquittal was - and is - morally outrageous but legally inevitable. As for the possible plot behind the event there was and still there is no evidence, not even circumstantial, that anything like that had actually occurred. Which does not mean it didn't, just that one, if willing to go down that path, must embark into conspiracy theories. But there is one fact that was and still is incontrovertible: DSK was unfit for office, wether in business or in politics, and this affair helped take him down. So it was a good thing.

This is a look at how the 1% has their justice delivered. The power and the money of these people make the justice system favor them...up to a point. They often have a delayed kind of fall. As for the victims mostly they are not given their due. If they are fortunate they get something financial. That's pretty much what we have here. While the accused, in this case, lost all of his political aspirations and third marriage he picks up with a kind of still high-flying well funded lifestyle. Perhaps in the end it will change things over time for the victims in a more positive way. One feels, however, that change is still far from fair and will take more of these incidents, as well as some kind of more decisive jkustice. You might say, though, that is actually happening.