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CULTURE

‘Just say no’ to roles that objectify women, says France’s Binoche at Spanish film festival

Actors must learn to just say "no" to roles that objectify women, Oscar-winning French actor Juliette Binoche said Sunday at the San Sebastian film festival where she will be honoured with an award for her acting career.

Juliette Binoche at San Sebastian film festival
French actress Juliette Binoche poses during a photo call a few hours before receiving the Donostia Award for her career, during the 70th San Sebastian Film Festival in the northern Spanish Basque city of San Sebastian on September 18, 2022. Photo: ANDER GILLENEA / AFP

“You have to know how to say no to things so that you don’t end up in a kind of situation where you are seen in a certain way,” said Binoche, who is one of France’s most recognised actors.

When she was offered roles where she was “somebody’s woman, or objectified as a woman”, she turned them down.

“I just said ‘no’ because I wasn’t interested,” the 58-year-old told reporters, admitting that she felt “very lucky” to have played so many interesting parts throughout her career.

“I know there are women who are victims of this.. but you have to know how to reject this kind of codified cinema,” said Binoche whose role in The English Patient (1996) won her an Oscar for best-supporting actress.

“It’s not always easy but you have to know how to take a leap into the unknown where these chauvinistic codes no longer apply.”

Binoche, who has taken on some 75 different parts since her silver screen debut in 1983, says she tries to “never judge a role, but to embrace it with all its contradictions, all its darkness, and for what ultimately makes it
human.

“And when a storyline leads to an evolution or a transformation, that’s what interests me most.”

On Sunday evening, the festival will present Binoche and Canadian director David Cronenberg with an honorary Donostia award in recognition of their careers.

Past recipients of the Donostia award — the festival’s highest honour — include actors Meryl Streep, Richard Gere, Ian McKellen and Robert De Niro.

Last year’s honours were awarded to French actor Marion Cotillard and Hollywood star Johnny Depp.

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CRIME

French cinema boss on trial for sexual assault

The head of France's top cinema institution Dominique Boutonnat denied sexually assaulting his godson as he went on trial Friday in a case that has led to calls for him to step down.

French cinema boss on trial for sexual assault

The trial comes as French cinema reels from a renewed #MeToo reckoning that has seen several big names, including acting legend Gerard Depardieu, accused of sexual abuse.

READ ALSO: French actor Gérard Depardieu to be tried for sexual assault in October

Activists have denounced Boutonnat’s continued leadership of the National Centre of Cinema (CNC), whose role includes overseeing measures to curb sexual violence in the industry.

His godson accuses him of trying to masturbate him during a holiday in Greece in 2020 when he was 19.

“I looked at him to find my godfather and that’s when I saw someone completely different… It was someone using me to masturbate,” the godson, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court.

Boutonnat responded in court that it was his godson who had initiated the situation and kissed him.

“I feel bad about leaving an ambiguous situation, but to say there was a sexual assault is false,” he told the court.

He was placed under investigation in February 2021 but still reappointed by the government as head of the CNC in July 2022.

Training to prevent abuse has in recent months become obligatory for films seeking public funding via the CNC.

The CNC told AFP that the case against Boutonnat came from “the private sphere” and had no relation to its activities.

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