French cinema’s reckoning with the #MeToo movement: trop peu trop tard?
“A man hunt” of an “immense actor who makes France proud”. These were President Macron’s words in defence of Gérard Dépardieu, the giant of French cinema charged with two counts of rape and rampant sexual misconduct whose trial is set to take place in March of next year. Over his decades long career, the star of films such as Cyrano de Bergerac and Life of Pi, like many prominent figures in the industry, has been accused of sexual assault by numerous women, many of whom were his co-stars. While it is true that public images have frayed, the common thread is the dismissal of women’s voices in favour of protecting the reputations of a glorified few. The President is far from alone in his defence of Dépardieu. In the aftermath of the seismic scandal, fifty-six French stars, including many women, signed an open letter titled « N’effacez pas Gérard Dépardieu », calling for an end to what they described as the public lynching that he has faced since the accusations came to light. In this letter, these self-proclaimed crusaders of French cinema choose to depict Dépardieu as the last pillar of French artistic culture, claiming that to attack him in this way is to launch an attack on art itself. For the French, whose stellar artistic heritage defines so much of their national identity, a natural and patriotic instinct to protect their culture is understandable, however, this exaggerated account not only places Dépardieu above the law, it also readily turns a blind eye to a culture of abuse in order to protect this art. This tendency for the French film industry to condone or even defend the harmful behaviour of its big players, has undoubtedly delayed its own reckoning with the #MeToo movement as it begs the question of how much mistreatment it is willing to sweep under the rug in the name of protecting art.
While the French film industry can be said to have had a delayed reckoning with sexual abuse scandals, this is not to say that this was always the case: historically, French feminists in the literary, artistic and cinematic spheres were among the trailblazing women who championed the second wave. The manifeste des 343, written by Simone de Beauvoir in 1971 was a groundbreaking call for women’s freedom to choose as three hundred and forty-three women signed it declaring that they had had an illegal abortion and protested their right to safe and free access. Among these women were fifty-eight notable “personnalités” in the public sphere and film industry including director Agnès Varda; screenwriter Marguerite Duras and legendary actress Catherine Deneuve. However, it seems that once the focus shifts from what today are considered basic reproductive rights to the right to be believed as a victim of male sexual violence, willingness to support the cause wavers, especially if the man in question is a household name in France.
Despite her previous activism on women’s issues, Deneuve penned an open letter criticising the #MeToo movement shortly after it exploded onto the scene of popular culture in 2018, deeming it a “witch hunt” that had gone too far. While in our increasingly polarised age, it is only natural to harbour concerns about the mob mentality fuelled by social media, Deneuve, and the ninety nine other women who signed the letter, showed themselves to be guilty of the deep-rooted, internalised bias that pervades the French film industry. These double standards have manifested themselves in a strong pushback against the #MeToo movement within the world of French cinema and a willingness to prioritise the artistic contributions of powerful male creators over listening to the experiences of the women they have harmed. Arguably, it is not “puritanism” as the letter claimed, for women to demand that the right to freedom of choice over their own bodies extends to and includes freedom from sexual assault, abuse and rape.
In the last couple of years however, there have been notable steps in the right direction as figures such as actor Judith Godrèche have championed France’s own version of the #MeToo movement, #BalanceTonPorc, attempting to drag a reluctant French film industry in to step with its American and British equivalents. The 2024 Cannes film festival this past summer saw the premiere of Godrèche’s short film “Moi Aussi” featuring around one thousand survivors of sexual abuse and their stories as they placed their hands over their mouths in a symbolic gesture of the silencing of victims. By centring this issue of a culture of silence at the prestigious festival so synonymous with the crème de la crème of French film, Godrèche and her fellow activists embody a generation that refuses to be ignored, presenting the grande famille de cinema with an issue it can no longer turn its back on.
In the six years since the #MeToo movement rocked the foundations of the establishment, it appears the French film industry is still struggling to reconcile the timeless art produced by iconic figures and the reality that many of said figures have participated in a culture of abuse and violence. This culture has been met with fierce resistance. At the 45th César awards in 2020, actor Adèle Haenel, who was sexually abused as a child by director Christophe Ruggia, was joined by Céline Sciamma as she walked out of the ceremony after convicted rapist Roman Polanski was named “Best Director”. The bottom line is that women in the French film establishment and in France more widely are seeking to be free not just from the physical assault on their bodies but from the verbal assault of their character should they be brave enough to speak up. The harmful discourse of shame and victim blaming that surrounds the issue of sexual assault, and was perpetuated by President Macron in his defence of Dépardieu denies women of their right to be heard and believed as victims of without being accused of trying to destroy French art. There can be no doubt that l’affaire Dépardieu, and other harrowing cases of assault has brought this issue to the forefront of the global consciousness.
Yet when the world’s focus inevitably shifts elsewhere, we have to ask if, given the deeply ingrained nature of sexual abuse in its culture, this recent reckoning will be enough to reform the French film industry.