#MeToo: Category means punishment
About seven years ago, Catherine Denev, a living legend not only of French but world cinema, had signed an open letter in which she separated her position from feminist campaigns on social media like #MeToo and her French respective #balancetonporc. The letter signed by about 100 French academics, artists and writers and was published in the Le Monde newspaper, spoke of an unparalleled wave of puritanism, saying, among other things, « rape is a crime, but the attempt to seduce someone, even if anyone is unhappy. Men are generally punished, expelled from their job, when all they did was touch a knee or try to steal a kiss. «
The letter may have been very right on its side, but the reality is probably on the opposite bank, and this was evident this year during the Cannes Festival that went down last Sunday. Its launch on Tuesday, May 13, coincided with the news that the also legendary French actor Gerard Depardieu was sentenced to 18 months in prison (suspended) for sexual harassment of two women in filming. Depardieu is a person identified with the Cannes Festival, and although his sentence is not directly related to it, his condemnation reminds us how deeply the #MeToo movement has exerted in France. Obviously, the Cannes Festival itself seems to follow this stream. With the new law this year, the event tells a stop to artists who have been accused of inappropriate behavior on sexual issues. According to this decision, the accused are forbidden to walk on the red carpet, either for their film premiere or for another. The decision was made by the example of actor Theo Navaro-Musi, who appears in Dominic Mol’s film « Case 137 ». Although not convicted, Navarro-Musi is charged with a sexual crime, so his entry was banned. This has never happened in the past, and it could, and even with much more famous faces, such as Woody Allen, Johnny Depp and Roman Polanski, frequent visitors to the festival and with equally heavy, if not heavier, categories.
And those who wonder how Kevin Spacey was honored in Cannes this year, an artist whose career was interrupted following complaints of sexual assault and inappropriate behavior by more than 30 men (never convicted), the answer is that he was not honored by the Festival but by the Festival but by the Festival. « The Cannes Festival had no involvement and was not informed about the invitation given to Mr Spice or the award given to him during this private event, » the festival said in an official announcement.
The situation appeared to be led to this point because in the two previous Cannes festivals some concerns about #Metoo were expressed. Especially in last year. At the beginning of last year’s event, rumors that the MediaPart research magazine was preparing an article-bomb article describing in detail accusations against many actors whose films were screened at the Festival. These actors would be called. But while this article, for reasons that remain blurry, was never published, at the beginning of this year, a Committee of the France of France found that sexual harassment and sexual violence in France in France is endemic. The following committee report exerted pressure on the industry to change its practices. Gaetan Briel, a new chairman of the French National Film Council, has promised that the growing concerns about #Metoo would be central to how the organization operates behind the country’s film subsidy program. So the Cannes Festival seems almost forced to follow the current. « If we approve an artist who has a history as a person with problematic behavior, we risk legalizing this person, » said the artistic director of the Cannes Film Frey Festival, speaking on the subject.
