Attempted sexual assault, nude scenes, perverse castings… In the columns of Release, French actress Juliette Binoche looks back on her professional journey in light of the MeToo revolution.
She tells this story in particular, when she was still in high school. “I filmed two days in Liberty beautiful. The director Pascal Kané invites me to dinner at the Nikko hotel in the heights of a tower to talk to me, he assured me, about another project. As he points out the view of the Seine front, he throws himself at me to kiss me. I pushed him away vigorously: “But I have a lover!” I couldn’t believe it. »
“A gesture I would rather forget”
In 1984 when Juliette Binoche was only 20 years old, during the filming of Appointment by André Téchiné, “there was a gesture that I would prefer to forget,” she explains. “A hand, while we were filming, suddenly came and touched my penis. No one had warned me, let alone asked for my consent. I was stunned. But I haven’t been able to say it. I never knew if this hand came from a request from the director, or if it was the actor who had taken this liberty and I don’t really want to know. »
A few years later, on the film Blue by Krzysztof Kieślowski, she said: “the director entered my trailer to grope me. I pushed him away, he didn’t insist. Lena Olin, who played the other female role, told me that she had the same attempts. »
“He was often asked to undress for a casting”
The famous French actress speaks at length in the columns of the daily newspaper about “this frantic need for naked bodies in cinema in the 80s and 90s [qui] only concerned young women, rarely men.” She notably evokes a scene, on the set of the film Alice and Martin by André Téchiné in 1997. “I didn’t like the idea of a bare shot. André swore he would remove it if I asked him once the film was edited. He didn’t keep his word. The producer had to intervene. This betrayal really disappointed me, perhaps even more than the plan itself. »
Juliette Binoche also talks about the numerous castings in which she participated. “He was often asked to undress for a casting. I complied. But there was one time too many: under the gaze of Sébastien Japrisot, crowned by the success of theKiller summer that he had written, we had to play the same scenes over and over again in underwear and garters. I left in the middle of this casting in anger, I understood that the intention pursued was not that of the film. »
“All these injuries cause rage”
At just 60 years old, the actress explains that “all these injuries provoke rage, a revolt. But no desire to stop. » “The low blows, the inappropriate gestures, the sexist remarks: I don’t forget them, they poison life, but they remain secondary. Ultimately, all is forgiven. Everything is transformed, everything has sculpted me. The desire to give myself through play remains stronger. »
Regarding the speaking out of actresses recounting having been victims of sexual violence, she explains: “I am relieved to see and hear the testimonies of women and men who dare to expose the abuse that they and they have suffered. It’s not easy to expose your private life, and we should all thank them. »