The French film industry is at an inflection point regarding its Moi Aussi movement, which, as was briefly discussed last week at the Cannes opening press conference , has long trailed behind America’s Me Too movement, only recently gaining any sort of traction. Much of that can be credited to Judith Godrèche, an esteemed French actor whose short film Moi Aussi was shot in secret in March and added last-minute to the Un Certain Regard section of the festival. The poignant, poetic short features the faces and anonymous personal testimonies of people in the industry who have been victims of sexual abuse, gathered together in silence on a Parisian street as Godrèche’s daughter, actress Tess Barthélemy, dances lyrically around them.
The film is significant both for its subject matter and its premiere location, at a festival and within an industry that has turned a blind eye to or gone so far as to celebrate men accused of sexual violence; just last year, for example, Cannes’s opening film starred Johnny Depp, and this year, Shia LaBeou f walked the red carpet. Moi Aussi is also personally symbolic for Godrèche, who, in 2017, joined the chorus of voices testifying against Harvey Weinstein, and more recently spoke out against two men in the French film industry: she filed a complaint against director Jacques Doillon, accusing him of “rape with violence,” on and off the set of the 1989 film The 15 Year Old Girl, and denounced as abuse the six-year relationship she,.
