Screaming at the Window

Based on details and information reported in contemporaneous newspaper reports, Screaming at the Window is the true and tragic story of Blanche Monnier, the young daughter of Louise, an aristocratic mother and Emile, a former dean of the faculty of letters, who became known throughout France as The Prisoner of Poitiers (La Sequestree de Poitiers).

Just before her twenty-fifth birthday, Blanche Monnier was imprisoned in an upstairs room by her mother and her brother. In May 1901, an anonymous letter alerted the police to the fact that Blanche was imprisoned in a dark room with padlocked shutters. According to the letter, Blanche had been imprisoned for twenty-five years. When the police found her, she was half-starved, naked, sedated and screaming.

Part French history, part true crime study, part courtroom drama, Screaming At The Window is Blanche Monnier's harrowing story.