"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.
Review of Room 2806: The Accusation
