You gotta love the news that comes out of Cannes. In between burglaries (they should check and see if the Bling Ring posse is still in town) you get some wonderful juicy tidbits from artists which cause you to wonder what the fuck are these people thinking.
Today’s installment of “what the fuck” goes to director Francois Ozon whose main competition film The Young and the Beautiful is about a disaffected teenage girl who turns to prostitution. Ozon said in an interview with a clearly perplexed reporter from The Hollywood Reporter, that most women — though probably not American women — have fantasies to “do prostitution” (I am wondering about the translation here.)
Here’s the exchange and the push back from the reporter Rhonda Richford, who is a Paris based correspondent for the paper (so I’m guessing her French is pretty good.)
Ozon: …But I think women can really be connected with this girl because it’s a fantasy of many women to do prostitution. That doesn’t mean they do it, but the fact to be paid to have sex is something which is very obvious in feminine sexuality.
THR: Why do you believe that is a desire? I really don’t think that’s the case.
Ozon: I think that’s the case because sexuality is complex. I think to be an object in sexuality is something very obvious you know, to be desired, to be used. There is kind of a passivity that women are looking for. That’s why the scene with Charlotte Rampling is very important, because she says [prostitution] was a fantasy she always had but never had the courage to do it. She was too shy.
THR: How did you come to the conclusion that is a theme in women’s sexuality?
Ozon: It is the reality. You speak with many women, you speak with shrinks, everybody knows that. Well, maybe not Americans!
I really don’t know what to say about this except the women I know have no desire to be an object nor have any desire for the passivity that he suggests. To be desired does not mean you are passive or an object.
Dude. Get a clue.
Cannes: Francois Ozon Says ‘It’s a Fantasy of Many Women to Do Prostitution’ (Q&A)- Hollywood Reporter
