At this year's Cannes Film Festival, a new wave of young female filmmakers is tackling sexual violence and sexism in the industry head-on, on the silver screen.
The #MeToo movement has long aimed to break the silence surrounding experiences of sexual abuse. At Cannes, female actors and filmmakers are using their platform to address these issues in a powerful way – through film.
In France, #MeToo, or its equivalent #balancetonporc ("call out your pig"), hadn't initially gained the same traction as in the US. In 2018, as the movement gained momentum, 100 female artists, including the iconic French actress Catherine Deneuve, voiced their concerns in an open letter to Le Monde, asserting the importance of "the freedom to seduce and flirt" in sexual freedom.
However, a younger generation of filmmakers, predominantly women, seems to diverge from these views. This year's Cannes, the pinnacle of French cinema, has become a focal point for discussions on misconduct within the industry, alongside films offering a critical female perspective on societal expectations.
"French attitudes towards morality and sex have historically differed from those in the US," explains journalist and writer Agnès Poirier. "But there's been a shift brewing for years, and it's palpable in 2024."
The festival kicked off amidst revelations that France's renowned actor, 75-year-old Gérard Depardieu, would face trial this autumn on allegations of sexual assault during a 2021 film shoot, which he denies. Just before the festival, rumors circulated of a potential list outing up to 10 prominent figures in the French film industry for misconduct, though this never came to light. On the festival's opening day, nine women publicly accused veteran French producer Alain Sarde of abuse, allegations he refuted.
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| Judithe Godrèche was at Cannes to premiere her short film Moi Aussi, which features around 1,000 survivors of sexual abuse (Credit: Courtesy Cannes Film Festival |
"It's different this time because of actor Judith Godrèche's revelations of the last few months which has prompted a parliamentary investigation in France," Poirier says.
Fifty-two-year-old Godrèche went public with allegations of sexual abuse by two directors when she was a young teenager and working in movies, something both film-makers, Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon, have denied
Godrèche was at Cannes to premiere her film Moi Aussi ("Me Too"). The 17-minute short features around 1,000 survivors of sexual abuse who converged together in Paris on one day in March 2024. The participants cover their mouths in a symbolic gesture of silence, but as the audience hears fragments of personal testimonies, the mood gradually changes to one of lightness as they begin to dance with each other in the street.
She tells the BBC that she wants to put France's attitude towards sexual violence under the spotlight. "It's important to me that this movie travels," she says, "and it's important to me that the world is aware of how France is dealing with all these topics, because I feel that the public opinion, worldwide, will have an impact on our country, and on the way our country wants to be seen abroad.
"For me, it's about saying to lawmakers and the government, 'you have to take this seriously, there's a problem'. And look, everybody knows. You knew, we knew, and now everybody knows."
Another French actor, Noémie Merlant, tells the BBC that the impact on her after the first wave of the #MeToo allegations was the inspiration behind her film The Balconettes, which also played at this year's festival as part of the Cannes Official Selection. Merlant directs, co-writes and stars in this gory comedy, which takes place in Marseilles during the hottest day of the year, when three female flatmates square up to some of the abusive men in their lives
Best known for her role in Céline Sciamma's epic historical love story, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, in which she starred opposite Adèle Haenel, another high-profile supporter of the French #MeToo movement, and who in 2023 publicly quit the cinema industry, citing "complacency" over sexual abuse. Sciamma also co-wrote The Balconettes with Merlant
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| Noémie Merlant says her film The Balconettes was inspired by the first wave of #MeToo allegations (Credit: Courtesy Cannes Film Fe |
When I first had the idea for the film, it was from what happened in real life," Merlant says. "The #MeToo movement changed the way I saw the world; I saw the patriarchal world we're living in. I hope the movie is deeper than just a 'metoo' movie, but the movement did give me confidence to explore these ideas.
"I wanted the movie to be colourful, to be punk, to be violent because I wanted it to be cathartic and I wanted to explore the vulgarity of women because that's not looked at very much.
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