Cannes struggles to resist #MeToo earthquake hitting French cinema

One of the dangers facing the festival is Some workers are going on strike To protest planned changes in French labor policies that would greatly reduce unemployment benefits; the other is deafening Rumor has it that ‘Mediapart’ magazine is about to publish an article accusing many actors, directors and producers in the country of being involved in this crime. sexual abuse, It’s a claim that has been circulating on social networks since last week, accompanied by pools of assumptions and sickness.

To further exacerbate the crisis, the French edition of ‘Elle’ magazine published this Monday the statements of nine women who condemned the harassment. Sexual assaults and rapes by the powerful producer Alain Sardeand shortly afterwards a column appeared on the website of the newspaper ‘Le Monde’, in which hundreds of individuals condemned the authorities’ inaction regarding reports of sexual abuse in the cinema. Inevitably, the noise produced For all these reasons, the presentation of the feature film ‘Le deuxieme acte’, which opened the exhibition this Tuesday, was put on the back burner.Although luckily it means he’s relevant enough to the debate, perhaps at this point the festival might regret giving him the honour.

Premiere of the competition

Ironically, this is a film that almost demands not to be taken too seriously; After all, its director is French Quentin Dupieux., is a writer with a firm commitment to the absurd, who uses his filmography to talk about topics like a killer tire, a jacket that turns its wearer into a serial killer, and a giant fly tamed for robbing banks. The plot adventure is a shot set in the countryside – a very strange shot – and the actors move for a camera in which we do not see the four main characters; However, the shooting is subject to constant interruptions in which the heroes argue among themselves. Or perhaps these interruptions are also part of the script they are interpreting?

Dupieux and the cast, led by Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon and Louis Garrel, have fun playing tag with us and all the while The film deals with the irrelevance of cinema in a world plagued by wars and epidemics., about the narcissism of artists and the threat AI and algorithms pose to fiction, but it also includes conversations about cancel culture and a scene where we see an attempted sexual assault. Truth be told, all ‘Le deuxieme acte’ really does with these subjects is use them for jokes, and although not all of them work – and some of the ones that do go on for far too long – the result is a thoroughly hilarious comedy. But in his final bars he seems to be saying something very serious: Most of those working in the cinema live in ignorance of reality, and to keep this fantasy alive they sometimes leave victims stranded..

Lies and chocolates

We’re talking about the victims: The story written by the women Sarde allegedly attacked is chilling. According to the ‘Elle’ article, he would sometimes lure underage girls by promising them job opportunities.After gaining their trust with lies and chocolates, he ruthlessly subjected them to his will. Regular collaborator of Jean-Luc Godard and Roman Polanski and winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes 2021 for ‘The Pianist’ with the Polish filmmaker After Sarde was accused of raping two women in 1997, he spent a short time in prison before the courts dismissed the case.. The lawyer of the producer (who is now 72 years old) stated in the last hours that his client was angry with the statements and that he had never resorted to violence or pressure in his relations with women.

Of course, Sarde does not seem to be among the names taken into consideration by those devoted to speculating about the identities of those who will appear in the ‘Mediapart’ article; According to a completely speculative report recently published by the newspaper ‘Le Figaro’, the majority of the list will consist of men between the ages of 30 and 40, some of whom will have developed most of their careers after the emergence of ‘MeToo’. In the United States, and in between, there will be both a director competing with a new film at Cannes this year and an Oscar-winning filmmaker. For now, let’s not forget that these are all rumors.There are many in the French public who warn of the dangers of reducing the kind of catharsis that French cinema faces in a collection of gossip. Avoiding this seems to be one of the goals of the said forum, which was published in ‘Le Monde’ and whose signatories include actresses such as Juliette Binoche and Isabelle Adjani. What matters is not the members of a list but the history of systemic indifference and corruption.

Meanwhile, the Cannes Festival continues to wait, probably hoping that the storm will pass before it destroys its roofs.; Meanwhile, they seem to have left the management of a possible communication crisis in the hands of an expert institution. “We proposed to organize a non-controversial festival this year so that cinema would focus all the attention,” Thierry Frémaux, the event’s artistic director, said yesterday. “If other controversies arise, they are none of our business.” I wish it were that easy.