T he 77th Cannes film festival reaches its climax on Saturday when all eyes will be on the Croisette, as the winners of the prestigious Palme d’Or are announced. Hollywood greats such as Meryl Streep, Jane Fonda and Greta Gerwig have been in town, but this year, I found myself on the red carpet, hand in hand with some of the most courageous women in the business. Behind the facade of movie-star glamour and fashionable edge, there are burning issues that have been agitating the grande famille du cinéma in France for years – but have been kept out of sight.
The Cannes festival, as a symbol of the French film establishment, can no longer shy away from them. Actor-director Judith Godrèche has emerged as one of the most outspoken voices of the French #MeToo movement . She invited me to walk alongside her and the crew of her new short film Moi Aussi (Me Too), which she was presenting to the Cannes audience.
In unusual silence, we stood on the steps to the Palais des Festivals covering our mouths to symbolise the silencing of sexual abuse survivors. When Judith was 14, the entire French film world knew her, not only as a promising young acting talent but also as the partner of the acclaimed, and then middle-aged, arthouse film-maker Benoît Jacquot. Nobody seemed to think it in any way strange or sordid.
As a teenage film actor she received no adult support, she has said . An “omertà” prevailed in the industry. It took decades before the adult Godrèche, as the mothe.
