In an interview given to the newspaper Libération, the winner of the Oscar in 1997 for her supporting role in The English Patient, which won a Bafta, a Goya and a César, reviewed her career, and in particular the bad moments she experienced, including attacks sexual acts, humiliation and excessive nudity.
She did not hesitate to mention names, such as the director Pascal Kané (1946-2020), whom she accused of attacking her when she was a young debutant.
He invited me to dinner at the Nikko Hotel on the grounds of talking about a project, and while he was showing me the view of the Seine he threw himself towards me to kiss me, so I had to forcefully reject him, said the 60-year-old actress, known for being along with her American colleague Julianne Moore, the only ones to win an acting award at the Berlin, Cannes and Venice festivals.
Binoche said she felt relieved for all the women and men who have dared to expose the abuses suffered, complaints in the spotlight since the emergence in 2017 on social networks of the #MeToo movement, following the accusations against the film producer and executive. American Harvey Weinstein.
It is not easy to present your private life, for which we should all thank them, he stressed.
At another point in her dialogue with Libération, the multifaceted artist, who also dances, writes poems and paints, recalled the difficult experience she suffered during the filming of Rendez-vous (1985), when a hand “suddenly appeared to touch my sex.”
Nobody warned me, much less asked for my consent, I was stunned, but I was not able to say it, or understand what happened, she said.
The French #MeToo already has numerous chapters, the most well-known, the complaints against the legend of French and world cinema Gérard Depardieu, who has accumulated several accusations before the courts for rape, abuse and sexual harassment, among them of the actresses Charlotte Arnould and Hélène Darras.
A great stir was caused by the testimonies of another actress, Judith Godrèche, enrolled in a true crusade against impunity, denial and privilege in French cinema in the face of abuses.
At the César Awards ceremony, on February 23 at the Olympia theater in Paris, he gave an emotional and applauded speech, half poetry and half speech.
“Why allow this medium that unites us to be used for the illicit trafficking of young girls,” asked the 51-year-old director and screenwriter, who that same month accused the 26-year-old director Benoît Jacquot of sexual and physical violence, crimes. committed when she was 14 years old, and for reasons similar to director Jacques Doillon.
Binoche today reproached himself for “not always knowing how to protect his comrades,” which he illustrated with a case of rape that he witnessed during the filming of Les enfants du siècle (1999).
Silence is no longer an option, the door has been open for more than five years, and more and more new voices are emerging willing to speak, not so much to tell what happened, but rather so that it never happens again.
jcm/wmr
