Adèle Haenel has published yet another rambling op-ed this morning. If you remember, she quit acting, preferring to concentrate more on further enhancing her political activities.
This all stems from her belief that the “toxic” French film industry is impossible to change. She’s gone full-Godard, except without the moviemaking.
The most recent example she had cited was her experience reading the script for Bruno Dumont’s upcoming “L’Empire” which she called “racist” and “sexist.”
The script was full of jokes about cancel culture and sexual violence. I tried to discuss it with Dumont, because I thought a dialogue was posted. I wanted to believe for the umpteenth time that it was not intentional. But it's intentional. This disregard is deliberate. Just as they make fun of the victims, of people in a situation of weakness. The intention was to make a sci-fi film with an all-white cast – and therefore a racist narrative. I didn't want to support this, so I canceled my participation.”
“I don’t make films anymore,” She says. When asked why, she added, “Because of political reasons. Because the film industry is absolutely reactionary, racist, and patriarchal.
Her latest rant is via French publication Télérama in which she denounces the “general complacency” toward “sexual aggressors” like Gerard Depardieu and Roman Polanski.
“They join hands [to protect] the [Gerard] Depardieus, the [Roman] Polanskis, the [Dominique] Boutonnats […] It bothers them that the victims make too much noise. They preferred that we disappear and die in silence.”
When Polanski won the Cesar for Best Director in 2020, Hanael walked out of the ceremony yelling “SHAME!”
Haenel expressed to The New York Times how repulsed she was by her peers’ recognition of Polanski “Distinguishing Polanski is spitting in the face of all victims. It means raping women isn’t that bad,” said the actress.
As a reader pointed out to me a few years ago, Haenel’s claim that you can’t separate the man from the artist makes her look like a total hypocrite. Her favorite author, Louis-Ferdinand Celine, is one of the worst antisemites in french history — doesn’t seem to be bothering her at all.
Zeller’s feature debut, “The Father,” was an acclaimed and Oscar-winning film. Many believe he struck out with his sophomore effort, 2022’s critically maligned “The Son.” This is another miss.