École polytechnique

École polytechnique is the elite engineering school Alexandre Farel enters after passing its competitive entrance examination on his first attempt. In his story, it marks the height of an education built around exceptional achievement, then becomes the place he tries to return to after the accusation against him has derailed his plans. He eventually stops attending, and never earns the engineering degree he hoped to complete.

Admission and Academic Achievement

Alexandre describes himself as a strong student who earned his baccalaureate at sixteen and passed the École polytechnique entrance examination on his first attempt. He presents that record alongside his subsequent admission to Stanford University, a trajectory that makes his later loss of both educational paths especially consequential.

The achievement had come at a personal cost. Alexandre says that preparing for the entrance examinations meant setting aside his personal life for two years. Under that pressure, he experienced depression during his second year of preparatory study. Shortly after the examinations, at the beginning of his first year at École polytechnique, he attempted suicide. He describes the attempt as not life-threatening and says he did not intend to die; in his account, it was a way of drawing attention to himself after pressure and frustration had overwhelmed him.

The Accusation and Interrupted Studies

After the rape accusation, Alexandre could no longer study at Stanford. He wanted to continue his education in Paris and obtain an engineering degree at École polytechnique, but says that harassment and threats made attending classes impossible. He describes being targeted by feminist associations and subjected to abuse on social media, where some users called for his murder. He eventually closed all his accounts and stopped going to school, saying he could no longer bear the burden of the accusations.

The accusation had already become public before the trial. After the Agence France-Presse report that Alexandre had been taken into police custody on suspicion of rape, his parents received messages from journalists, and Claire Farel also faced insults on Twitter. His father's public reputation became entangled with the accusation against his son. The case unfolded amid intense media attention and the aftermath of the Weinstein revelations; at the trial, Alexandre's lawyer argued that public judgment had compromised the presumption of innocence. These pressures formed the wider context in which Alexandre's attempt to resume his studies at École polytechnique failed.

From Student to Defendant

Alexandre's educational prospects were further constrained by the legal process. Although he had no criminal record and the investigating judge initially placed him under judicial supervision rather than detaining him, he was barred from approaching Mila Wizman and from leaving France. He had to abandon his planned studies at Stanford and the prospect of building a career in the United States. Over the two years of investigation, he faced sudden summonses, police requests, expert appointments, and a further confrontation with Mila; the intervals between these events could make the proceedings feel unreal, but also repeatedly brought the possibility of prison back into view.

Five months before the scheduled trial, Alexandre encountered Mila by chance beside the Saint-Martin Canal. He approached her unexpectedly; after she screamed and tried to flee, he caught her, grabbed her by the shoulders, and shook her. Passers-by called the police. His judicial supervision was revoked, and he was imprisoned at Fresnes. This arrest marked a further collapse in the life that had once been organized around examinations, university admission, and professional ambition.

The Lost Future

At trial, Alexandre described the public campaign against him as a reason he could not continue at École polytechnique. His lawyer later argued that the media trial had already destroyed his life: Alexandre had left engineering school without a degree and had been unable to pursue his intended studies at Stanford. The case thus recasts École polytechnique from evidence of a promising academic future into a measure of how completely that future was interrupted.

The school itself is not presented as the source of the accusation or the legal dispute. Its significance lies in the path Alexandre had struggled to enter and then tried to resume. By the time of the trial, that path had ended without the engineering qualification he sought; admission and ability had not been enough to restore the life he had expected to lead.