In Search for the Papin Sisters

Le Mans, February 2,1933: two maids, the sisters Christine and Lea Papin, kill their employer, Madame Lancelin, and her daughter Genevieve. After seven years working for the family, why kill a woman they called “Mummy”? What was the life of maids and the bourgeoisie like in Le Mans in the 1930s? Who really were the Lancelins, these peaceful local worthies for whom the two sisters worked? How did the courts, with only confessions and the murder weapon, make do with the absence of a motive? As for Lea Papin, the only sister to have done her sentence in full and whose date of death varies from one document to another, how did she live? And how did she die? Is she really dead? All these questions have inspired a documentary film that, through the investigation carried out by Pascale Thirode, revives the poignant tale of the murderous sisters.

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Script: Philippe Paringaux

Cinematography: Claude Ventura

Editing: Babeth Si Ramdane

Sound: Henri Dutilleux

Music: Georges Lafitte, Claude Ventura

Producers: Laurent Petin, Michele Halberstadt

Format: 35mm Color-B&W

Production Country: France

Production Year: 2000

Duration: 94

Claude Ventura