Actress Judith Godrèche received a standing ovation at the 2024 César Awards on Friday as she spoke out against sexual violence in the French film industry. Meanwhile, Cannes Palme d'Or winner Anatomy of a Fall dominated the event with six trophies, including best film, giving it new momentum ahead of the Oscars, in which it has five nominations.
Godrèche, who has become a leading figure in France's #MeToo movement, denounced the "level of impunity, denial and privilege" in the industry.
She has accused directors Benoit Jacquot and Jacques Doillon of sexually assaulting her while she was a teenager. Both deny the allegations.
"Why accept that this art that we love so much, this art that binds us together, is used as a cover for illicit trafficking of young girls?" Godrèche told the stunned audience.
"You have to be wary of little girls. They touch the bottom of the pool, they bump into each other, they hurt themselves but they bounce back," she said.
Justine Triet, who became just the second woman to win the best director César, for Anatomy of a Fall, dedicated her award to women who have been hurt.
The thriller about a wife accused of murdering her husband is one of France's biggest international arthouse hits in recent years.
Dedication to those who speak out
"I would like to dedicate this Cesar to all women (...) to those who succeed and those who fail, those who have been hurt and who liberate themselves by speaking, and those who do not succeed," said Triet, who in May became just the third woman filmmaker to win the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
The film also pulled best film, best actress for Sandra Huller, best supporting actor for Swann Arlaud, as well as best script and editing.
The question of sexual violence was raised from the start in Paris with introductory remarks by actress and director Valérie Lemercier, who presided over the ceremony.
"I will not leave this stage without praising those who are shaking up the habits and customs of a very old world where the bodies of some were implicitly at the disposal of the bodies of others," she said.
The first award of the night went to Adéle Exarchopoulos for best supporting actress in All Your Faces in which she plays a victim of incest.
She famously walked out of the 2020 award ceremony in protest when Roman Polanski won the best director trophy for An Officer and A Spy. Polanski is still technically a fugitive from US justice over a child sex conviction in the 1970s.
Before the ceremony at the Olympia venue in Paris, around a hundred people demonstrated at the call of the CGT union to support victims of sexual violence.
Before the awards, French culture minister Rachida Dati deplored a "collective blindness" that "lasted for years" in the industry in an interview with the magazine Le Film Francais.
"Creative freedom is total, but here we are not talking about art, we are talking paedocriminality," regarding Godreche, she said.
French cinema has been rocked by allegations it has shrugged off sexism and sexual abuse for decades, and criticism that the arts have too long provided cover for abuse.
See all the awards here:
(with AFP)
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