Cannes director defends festival after Adèle Haenel slams French film industry’s #MeToo response

Adèle Haenel, one of France’s best actors, announced her resignation from the French film business after criticizing it for its “complacency toward sexual aggressors,” but Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Fremaux denied her accusations in a press conference on Monday.

In an open letter published last week in Telerama magazine, Haenel, the star of the 2019 Cannes entry “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” claimed that Cannes and other leaders in the French film business are “willing to do anything to defend their rapist chiefs.”

Prior to the festival’s opening on Tuesday with the release of Johnny Depp’s historical film “Jeanne du Barry,” Mawenn vehemently clashed with Fremaux in a press conference.

Fremaux remarked, “She had to make this comment about Cannes, which was patently wrong, perhaps for fairly extreme reasons.

Haenel accused French director Christophe Ruggia of assaulting her sexually for years, starting when she was 12 years old, in 2019. It was refuted by Ruggia. Since that time, Haenel has frequently expressed her disapproval of what she considers to be a lackluster response to sexual abuse in French cinema. She left the César Awards event in 2020 after Roman Polanski was named best director.

Only Haenel’s critique of Cannes was addressed directly by Fremaux in his remarks. She didn’t believe that when she arrived in Cannes with Celine Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” he claimed, unless she had a psychotic dissonance.

“The proof is that if you believed it, you would not be here, listening to me now, taking your accreditations and complaining about the press screenings for a festival of rapists,” Fremaux told the gathering reporters.

There has been discussion about how the #MeToo movement has affected Cannes, one of the most prestigious and venerable film festivals in the world. For many years, Harvey Weinstein was a well-known figure in Cannes, and some of the alleged sexual assaults against the producer happened there.

Only two female directors have ever taken home the Palme d’Or at Cannes: Jane Campion in 1993 with “The Piano” and Julia Ducournau in 2021 with “Titane.” Cannes has historically had a low representation of female filmmakers in its coveted competition lineup. On the Cannes red carpet in 2018, 82 women launched a protest. The year after that, Fremaux gave in to pressure and signed a declaration pledging to work toward greater gender balance.

Fremaux stated that gender inclusion used to be an issue for the event. He muttered, “Maybe I was clumsy. Out of the 21 films in competition this year, a record seven were directed by women, which, according to him, demonstrates the rising popularity of female filmmakers globally.

Now, he continued, “when we are unsure whether to choose a picture made by a woman or a male, we’ll choose the woman’s film. only when we are hesitant.

All of this indicates improvement, Fremaux added.

Meanwhile, Cannes has occasionally been criticized for being overly hospitable to some of the men who have been accused of misbehavior. In 2017, Polanski attended the event once more. Some had anticipated that Woody Allen’s most recent movie would have its Cannes debut this year, but it didn’t enter the roster. When questioned about it, Fremaux replied he would only speak to the films that were chosen.

However, Fremaux was questioned regarding the decision to show “Jeanne du Barry” as the opening night movie. Depp’s first movie following his well-publicized trial with his ex-wife, Amber Heard, co-stars Maweenn. After accusing one another of verbal and physical abuse, a civil jury gave Depp $10 million in damages and Heard $2 million. They came to an agreement in December.

Truth be told, Fremaux declared, “My life is governed by just one rule: the freedom of thought, speech, and action within the bounds of the law.” “We wouldn’t be here discussing it if Johnny Depp had been prohibited from acting in a film or if the movie had been banned.”