From Rock Star to Killer is difficult viewing. The three-part documentary examines Bertrand Cantat's case and the uncomfortable public response to violence against women by a celebrated artist.
The death of Marie Trintignant in 2003 sits at its center, but the series does not stop with the events in Vilnius. It follows the arguments surrounding Cantat's return to public life and asks how fame changes the willingness to look closely at a perpetrator.
The chronological, sober approach works. Witnesses, relatives, legal voices and journalists have room to speak without sensational music or manufactured drama. Archive material gives the story depth and leaves space for reflection.
What impressed me most was the shift from an individual scandal toward power and the structures surrounding it. The controversy over musical comebacks becomes part of a broader question about whose talent society is prepared to protect.
The documentary also addresses Krisztina Rády's death and the accounts of isolation surrounding her. These sections add another troubling dimension, raising questions about control and how long it can take before affected women are heard.
The restraint gives the series its force. It confronts rather than offers reassuring answers. For me, it is a thoughtful, important contribution to a subject too often pushed aside, and much more than a sensational portrait of a fallen rock star.