Upcoming Film under Plagiarism Accusation: Legal Battle Looms Before Release

When the film trailer Under the Seine was revealed last April 9, its director was surely far from imagining the troubles that awaited him. Indeed, Netflix and Xavier Gens are accused of “parasitism” by the French director, Vincent Dietschy. Parasitism is a term close to plagiarism, but less serious legally. Parasitism is seen as unfair competition. It is when a person

In cinema, it's as if a director stole the script idea from another to make his own film! Parasitism or plagiarism are unfortunately crimes that are often committed. The music industry is the most conducive to this kind of accusation. The biggest names in music such as Michael Jackson, Beyoncé and Pharell Williams have already had to respond to these kinds of accusations.

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Under the Seine: Netflix at the heart of legal proceedings for plagiarism!

The world of the 7th art is not immune to this type of practice. One of The most famous stories of plagiarism in cinema is that concerning the trilogy Matrix. Indeed, in 2013, 10 years after the last film in the saga, a complaint was filed by a certain Thomas Althouse. He accuses the directors of plagiarism, explaining that the scripts of Matrix Reloaded And Matrix Revolution are copies of his named scenario The Immortals. A scenario that he had proposed at Warner Bros..

Thomas Althouse claimed an amount of 300 million dollars to cover his losses. In April 2014, the case went to court and the judge rejects the 119 points of similarity put forward by the American screenwriter. According to the judge, the points of similarity are “too general to claim copyright, as well as ideas commonly used in the genre, and not original”.

What future for Xavier's film Gens, Sous la Seine?

But to return to Sous la Seine, last Monday April 22, Netflix representatives had to respond to Vincent Dietschy's accusations, before French justice. The French director accuses Netflix and Xavier Gens of having largely inspired by the scenario of his project Catfish, in production since 2012. The scenario was to tell the story of a giant catfish which terrorized the inhabitants of the capital in the run-up to the Olympic Games. It is true that both scenarios present many similarities except for a few details. Indeed, in Xavier Gens' scenario, the threat is a giant shark which swims in the Seine and which threatens the Triathlon world championships.

Vincent Dietschy hopes to win this showdown and recover 3 million euros in compensation. The final decision has not yet been made, but if justice rules in favor of Vincent Dietschy, the broadcast of Sous la Seine could be canceled. If justice rules in favor of Netflix, the film starring Bérénice Bejo and Nassim Lyes could well be published for the platform's subscribers. So this is something to keep an eye on!