Cannes director defends competitors after Adele Haenel slams French film commerce’s #MeToo response

By Associated Press

FRANCE: After thought of certainly one of France’s excessive actors, Adele Haenel, launched she was quitting the French film commerce that she denounced for “complacency toward sexual aggressors,” Cannes Film Festival chief Thierry Fremaux rejected her criticisms whereas addressing members of the media Monday.

Haenel, star of the 2019 Cannes entry “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” last week printed an open letter inside the Telerama journal by which the 34-year-old talked about Cannes and totally different pillars of the French film commerce are “capable of do one thing to defend their rapist chiefs.

” Fremaux strongly disagreed while speaking to journalists before the festival kicks off Tuesday with the premiere of Maiwenn’s historical drama “Jeanne du Barry,” starring Johnny Depp.

“No doubt for somewhat radical reasons, she had to make this comment about Cannes, which was obviously false,” talked about Fremaux.

In 2019, Haenel accused French director Christophe Ruggia of sexually harassing her for years beginning at 12.

Ruggia has denied it. Since then, Haenel has usually vocally protested what she’s known as an insufficient response to sexual abuse in French filmmaking.

At the Cesar Awards 2020, she walked out of the ceremony after Roman Polanski gained best director.

ALSO READ: Marion Cotillard lauds Adele Haenel for speaking on sexual harassment

In his remarks, Fremaux solely notably addressed Haenel’s criticism of Cannes.

When she obtained right here to the competitors with Celine Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” he talked about: “She didn’t suppose that when she obtained right here to Cannes besides she suffered from a crazy dissonance.

“The proof is that if you believed it, you would not be here, listening to me now, taking your accreditation and complaining about the press screenings for a festival of rapists,” Fremaux talked about to the gathered reporters.

How the #MeToo movement has reverberated in Cannes, certainly one of many world’s oldest and most glamorous film festivals, has been a subject of debate.

Harvey Weinstein was for years a excellent presence at Cannes, and some of the incidents of sexual abuse allegations in opposition to the producer handed off by way of the competitors.

Cannes moreover has traditionally had a low worth of female filmmakers in its prestigious rivals line-up, the place solely two female directors have gained the Palme d’Or: Jane Campion in 1993 with “The Piano” and Julia Ducournau in 2021 with “Titane.”

 In 2018, 82 ladies led a protest on the Cannes purple carpet.

The following yr, Fremaux bowing to emphasize, signed a pledge promising to try in direction of bigger gender parity. Fremaux acknowledged that the competitors as quickly as had a difficulty with gender inclusivity.

“Maybe I was clumsy,” he talked about.

This yr, there are a file seven motion pictures directed by ladies out of the 21 movement photos in rivals, which he talked about shows the rising prominence of female filmmakers world large.

Now, he added, “When we hesitate between a film made by a man or a woman, we’ll select the film made by the woman. But only when we hesitate. This all denotes progress,” talked about Fremaux.

At the similar time, Cannes has typically been accused of being too welcoming to a couple of the males who’ve been accused of misconduct.

Polanski returned to the competitors in 2017.

This yr, some had been anticipating Woody Allen’s latest film to premiere in Cannes however it didn’t make it to the line-up.

Asked about it, Fremaux talked about he would solely take care of motion pictures inside the alternative.

Fremaux was, though, questioned regarding the variety of “Jeanne du Barry” as a result of the opening evening time film.

The film, which co-stars Maiwenn, is Depp’s first since his high-profile trial with Amber Heard, his ex-wife.

After every Depp and Heard accused each other of bodily and verbal abuse, a civil jury awarded Depp USD 10 million in damages and $2 million to Heard.

In December, they reached a settlement.

“To tell you the truth, in my life, I only have one rule, it’s the freedom of thinking, the freedom of speech and the freedom to act within a legal framework,” talked about Fremaux.

“If Johnny Depp had been banned from acting in a film, or the film was banned we wouldn’t be here talking about it,” he talked about.

FRANCE: After thought of certainly one of France’s excessive actors, Adele Haenel, launched she was quitting the French film commerce that she denounced for “complacency toward sexual aggressors,” Cannes Film Festival chief Thierry Fremaux rejected her criticisms whereas addressing members of the media Monday.

Haenel, star of the 2019 Cannes entry “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” last week printed an open letter inside the Telerama journal by which the 34-year-old talked about Cannes and totally different pillars of the French film commerce are “capable of do one thing to defend their rapist chiefs.

” Fremaux strongly disagreed while speaking to journalists before the festival kicks off Tuesday with the premiere of Maiwenn’s historical drama “Jeanne du Barry,” starring Johnny Depp.googletag.cmd.push(carry out() googletag.present(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); );

“No doubt for somewhat radical reasons, she had to make this comment about Cannes, which was obviously false,” talked about Fremaux.

In 2019, Haenel accused French director Christophe Ruggia of sexually harassing her for years beginning at 12.

Ruggia has denied it. Since then, Haenel has usually vocally protested what she’s known as an insufficient response to sexual abuse in French filmmaking.

At the Cesar Awards 2020, she walked out of the ceremony after Roman Polanski gained best director.

ALSO READ: Marion Cotillard lauds Adele Haenel for speaking on sexual harassment

In his remarks, Fremaux solely notably addressed Haenel’s criticism of Cannes.

When she obtained right here to the competitors with Celine Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” he talked about: “She didn’t suppose that when she obtained right here to Cannes besides she suffered from a crazy dissonance.

“The proof is that if you believed it, you would not be here, listening to me now, taking your accreditation and complaining about the press screenings for a festival of rapists,” Fremaux talked about to the gathered reporters.

How the #MeToo movement has reverberated in Cannes, certainly one of many world’s oldest and most glamorous film festivals, has been a subject of debate.

Harvey Weinstein was for years a excellent presence at Cannes, and some of the incidents of sexual abuse allegations in opposition to the producer handed off by way of the competitors.

Cannes moreover has traditionally had a low worth of female filmmakers in its prestigious rivals line-up, the place solely two female directors have gained the Palme d’Or: Jane Campion in 1993 with “The Piano” and Julia Ducournau in 2021 with “Titane.”

 In 2018, 82 ladies led a protest on the Cannes purple carpet.

The following yr, Fremaux bowing to emphasize, signed a pledge promising to try in direction of bigger gender parity. Fremaux acknowledged that the competitors as quickly as had a difficulty with gender inclusivity.

“Maybe I was clumsy,” he talked about.

This yr, there are a file seven motion pictures directed by ladies out of the 21 movement photos in rivals, which he talked about shows the rising prominence of female filmmakers world large.

Now, he added, “When we hesitate between a film made by a man or a woman, we’ll select the film made by the woman. But only when we hesitate. This all denotes progress,” talked about Fremaux.

At the similar time, Cannes has typically been accused of being too welcoming to a couple of the males who’ve been accused of misconduct.

Polanski returned to the competitors in 2017.

This yr, some had been anticipating Woody Allen’s latest film to premiere in Cannes however it didn’t make it to the line-up.

Asked about it, Fremaux talked about he would solely take care of motion pictures inside the alternative.

Fremaux was, though, questioned regarding the variety of “Jeanne du Barry” as a result of the opening evening time film.

The film, which co-stars Maiwenn, is Depp’s first since his high-profile trial with Amber Heard, his ex-wife.

After every Depp and Heard accused each other of bodily and verbal abuse, a civil jury awarded Depp USD 10 million in damages and $2 million to Heard.

In December, they reached a settlement.

“To tell you the truth, in my life, I only have one rule, it’s the freedom of thinking, the freedom of speech and the freedom to act within a legal framework,” talked about Fremaux.

“If Johnny Depp had been banned from acting in a film, or the film was banned we wouldn’t be here talking about it,” he talked about.