“I rejected him vigorously”, the actress denounces abuse in cinema

Juliette Binoche decided to speak in the columns of the newspaper Release to warn the younger generation of actresses of the masculine behavior that they in turn could be confronted with. Tongues have been loosening for several months, and particularly since Judith Godreche has become one of the new figures of the movement #MeToo by denouncing the behavior of directors Jacques Doillon and Benoît Jacquot against whom she decided to file a complaint. On the sidelines of her colleague’s poignant speech at the 2024 César Awards, the 60-year-old actress won an award for her performance in the film Three colors: blue by Krzysztof Kieślowski (1993) in turn recounts her own traumas and how she overcame them.

Juliette Binoche went back in time, 40 years ago, and remembered her first steps in the world of cinema which confronted her with painful situations. From his first shoot for the film Liberty Belleshe had to defend yourself from advances of its director. “As Pascal Kané points out the view, he throws himself at me to kiss me. I pushed him away vigorously. I couldn’t believe it”, she remembered. No doubt she thought at the time that it was an isolated case. Two years later, she toured I salute you by Jean-Luc Godard. During the casting, he asked her to “undress”then “walking around a table naked reading a poem while combing my hair while he films”. “He was often asked to undress for a casting. I was executing”she revealed immediately.

Juliette Binoche witness to chilling scenes

During the filming of The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Philip Kaufman, Juliette Binoche had to push away the director who came to caress her in his trailer and, “Under the gaze of Sébastien Japrisot, crowned by the success of The Deadly Summer that he had written, we had to play the same scenes over and over again in underwear and garters.”. “I walked out right in the middle of this angry casting”, she wanted to make known. In the shoes of Nina for the film Appointment by André Téchiné, she must learn to “to spit on, mime a blowjob And pretending to have sex on stairs“. Chilling stories every time!

With her experience, the heroine of Chocolate admits that with hindsight she “Understood”. “It was barely noticeable that an extra was raped by an actor in LChildren of the century during an opium scene in a brothel”, appealing to his memory. Despite all these “difficult scenes” which caused a certain “hate” in her, of these “wounds” which brought out a “rage” and some “revolt”Juliette Binoche has never given up on her ambitions and even suggests that she has grown from it. “The low blows, the inappropriate gestures, the sexist remarks: I don’t forget them, they poison life, but they remain secondary“she assures our colleagues of Release.

Juliette Binoche serene but still concerned

Visibly serene today, but no less concerned, Juliette Binoche admitted that deep down inside herself everything was today “forgiven”. “Everything is transformed, everything has sculpted me”reports the actress, “relieved to see and hear the testimonies of women and men who dare to expose the abuse they have suffered”. Because it is actually not “it’s not easy to expose your intimate life”And “we should thank them all”she concludes.

We’ll have to wait before seeing Hannah’s mom again in the cinema. The release date of the next film for which she had been approached to play Penelope – The Return by Uberto Pasolini – is still not known. However, it is planned to be released in cinemas in 2024.

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