Marseille's administrative court has ordered the city to allow screenings of the Catholic film 'Sacré-Cœur. Son règne n’a pas de fin' in a municipal cinema, reversing its cancellation by local authorities. The ruling rejects the city's laïcité argument. Plaintiffs, including a far-right senator and the filmmakers, had decried censorship.
Marseille's city government, led by a left-wing and civil society coalition, canceled screenings of the Catholic docu-fiction 'Sacré-Cœur. Son règne n’a pas de fin' on Wednesday, originally scheduled from October 22 to 28 at the Château de La Buzine, a municipal cinema in the 11th arrondissement managed directly by the city. The mayor's office cited the law on separation of church and state, arguing that a public facility could not host confessional projections. It referenced precedents set by SNCF and RATP, which rejected the film's advertising campaign as incompatible with public service neutrality.
Far-right senator Stéphane Ravier and the filmmaker couple filed an emergency référé-liberté, denouncing 'censorship.' Seized on Saturday, October 25, 2025, Marseille's administrative court ruled in their favor, ordering Mayor Benoît Payan (divers gauche) to authorize the remaining originally planned screenings.
The judges held that 'the screening of a work potentially presenting a religious character in a municipal cinema does not, in itself, violate the principle of laïcité, provided it does not express the commune's recognition of a religion or preference for it.' They noted no special pricing, avoiding any subsidy appearance. By canceling the film, the city 'inflicted a grave and manifestly illegal infringement on the freedom of expression, creation, and artistic diffusion.'
This case highlights tensions over laïcité in France, especially in public cultural spaces.