“There is a #MeToo paradox in France,” “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” star Adèle Haenel told The New York Times. “It is one of the countries where the movement was the most closely followed on social media, but from a political perspective and in cultural spheres, France has completely missed the boat.”
It’s hard not to see her point. While the French culture ministry and film board have recently ramped up their anti-sexual harassment efforts — changes introduced in the wake of Haenel’s revelation that she was harassed for years by director Christophe Ruggia, beginning when she was 12 — there has been plenty of apathy or outright backlash in response to the #MeToo movement in France. Admitted rapist Roman Polanski’s latest film, “An Officer and a Spy,” was released in France and received numerous accolades and nominations, in spite of feminist collective JaccusePolanski’s protests. Several high-profile figures in French film, such as Claire Denis and Catherine Denueve, have dismissed #MeToo and the pervasiveness of rape culture.
“Many artists blurred, or wanted to blur, the distinction between sexual behavior and abuse. The debate was centered on the question of [men’s] ‘freedom to bother,’ and on feminists’ purported puritanism,” Haenel explained. “But sexual abuse is abuse, not libertine behavior.”
Refreshingly, the two-time César winner has no patience for “separating the art from the artist” debates or the cultural refusal to differentiate sexual freedom from sexual violence. She’s also not here for those who claim that punishing an artist for their terrible behavior amounts to censorship.
“Distinguishing Polanski is spitting in the face of all victims. It means raping women isn’t that bad,” the actress declared. “When ‘An Officer and a Spy’ was released, we heard outcries about censorship. It isn’t censorship — it’s about choosing who one wants to watch. And old rich white men, rest assured: You own all of the communication channels,” Haenel said.
Instead of lamenting the downfall of artists such as Polanski, France — and all film industries — should start challenging its own bias and amplifying more voices. “Real censorship in French film is how some people suffer from invisibility. Where are the people of color in film? The directors of color?” Haenel asked. She reiterated that successful filmmakers of color like Cannes winner Mati Diop (“Atlantics”) and Ladj Ly, director of the Oscar-nominated “Les Misérables,” are few and far between. “They remain a minority. For now, most stories take the classic white, male, heterosexual point of view,” she said.
But Haenel is pushing back against the status quo, on-screen and off. Since she came forward with with allegations against Ruggia, she’s hopeful that other women, in and out of the biz, will feel empowered to do the same. “I am part of the film world, but today I want to hear from women from other spheres, in academia, in organizations,” she stated. “The enormous number of handwritten letters, messages, emails — from women, but also from men — who had been moved by my story also made me realize that we lacked media stories on survivors of sexual violence in France.”
On the narrative front, Haenel’s latest film, Céline Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” not only is a feminist exploration of the artist’s gaze, it also tells a moving, queer love story.
“We don’t apply a traditional playbook, which is ‘falling in love without understanding why.’ That usually includes domination and unequal power relations that are often considered like a motor for eroticism,” Haenel said of “Portrait of a Lady.” “This film frees itself of that. We offer something that politically, artistically, makes us less submissive. It is a new version of desire, a cross between intellectual, carnal, and inventive excitement.”
You can see Haenel in theaters now in “Portrait of a Lady on Fire.” She received César Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscars, for “Les combattants” and “Suzanne.” She and her “Portrait” co-lead, Noémie Merlant, shared a nod for European Actress at last year’s European Film Awards. “BPM (Beats Per Minute)” and “The Unknown Girl” are among Haenel’s other credits.
