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CULTURE

‘French Oscars’ ceremony features awkward lack of women

France's answer to the Oscars, the Cesar Awards, will hold its ceremony on Friday, with a distinct lack of women nominees despite a post-MeToo overhaul aimed at improving its feminist credentials.

Published: 24 February 2023 17:46 CET
'French Oscars' ceremony features awkward lack of women
The Olympia concert venue in Paris in 2021, ahead of the start of the 46th edition of the Cesar Film Awards ceremony. (Photo by Pascal LE SEGRETAIN / various sources / AFP)

There are no women among the nominees for best director this year — indeed there has not been a female winner of that award since 2000 (Tonie Marshall for “Venus Beauty Institute”). 

That is despite French women directors cleaning up on the festival circuit, winning top prizes at Cannes, Berlin and Venice in the last two years.

At the Cesars, the best film category includes only one made by a woman: Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, sister of former first lady and singer Carla Bruni.

And her film, “Les Amandiers” (titled “Forever Young” abroad), about a sexually promiscuous group of drama students in the 1980s, has been overshadowed by a scandal involving its star, Sofiane Bennacer, who is being investigated by police following allegations of rape and violence against a partner. 

READ MORE: ‘French Oscars’ bars those investigated for sex crimes

“Last year, the Oscar Academy was criticised for having a selection that was so white, and this year for being so male. The 2023 Cesars combine both types of invisibility,” said the 50/50 Collectif, which campaigns for increased female representation in French film.

It is all the more awkward given that the Cesar Academy went through a root-and-branch renewal in 2020 after Roman Polanski, who has been convicted of raping a child in the 1970s, topped the list of nominees and won best director, triggering angry protests. 

Fearing renewed protests, the Cesar organisers said last month they would not invite anyone facing sexual misconduct allegations to the ceremony, thus barring Bennacer who had been tipped for a nomination prior to the allegations.

It is still considering whether to ban them entirely from future nominations.

Meanwhile, the frontrunners for awards on Friday night offer some safer options.

Leading the nominations are a light-hearted crime caper, “The Innocent”, starring one of France’s favourite actors, Louis Garrel, and “The Night of the 12th”, about an investigation into the murder of a young woman.

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CULTURE

Backstage artisans keep Moulin Rouge kicking

Even with the famous sails of its windmill gone, the Moulin Rouge never lets up: twice a night, 365 nights a year, in a whirlwind of feathers, rhinestones and sequins.

Published: 6 May 2024 08:13 CEST
Backstage artisans keep Moulin Rouge kicking

The sails of the 135-year-old cabaret in the Montmartre district of Paris collapsed last month — the cause remains unknown.

But with some 1,700 spectators still coming every evening, the show must go on. And while the 60-strong troupe of “Doriss Girls” — named after legendary choreographer Doris Haung — get all the attention, creating and maintaining their costumes is another huge and highly skilled job.

The show has daunting annual requirements: nearly 1,000 tailor-made outfits each requiring up to 250 hours of assembly, 800 pairs of shoes, and not forgetting the three kilometres of ostrich-feather boas.

READ MORE: 5 things to know about Paris’ iconic Moulin Rouge

The clacking of sewing machines backstage is a near-constant soundtrack before and after — and sometimes during — shows.

“We are on every evening. The costumes wear out… But the show must always be the same, at the highest quality,” the cabaret’s general director, Jean-Victor Clerico, 38, told AFP.

In the same family for four generations, the Moulin Rouge started buying up small artisan workshops in the 2000s — partly experts in featherwork and embroidery — that were struggling to survive in modern-day Paris.

“These artisans are a living heritage that risked disappearing, and they are essential for the show,” said Clerico.

“It was the duty of the Moulin to perpetuate their existence and allow the transmission of their knowledge to younger generations,” he added.

Mine Verges, 88, a costume designer since the 1960s, was one of the first to come under the Moulin’s umbrella.

Her workshop supplies and maintains the troupe, as well as many other clients.

“The most complicated costumes are those of the cabaret. Everything must be much more solid than normal clothing, and when there are feathers, it must above all be pleasant for the dancers,” she told AFP.

“Le Moulin was the first cabaret with whom I worked and it will be the last,” she said, adding that she was pleased her savoir-faire will be passed down.

Featherwork

Supplier to haute couture houses such as Hermes and Louis Vuitton, Maison Fevrier was set up in 1929 and is the last featherwork workshop in the heart of Paris.

Its “plumasserie” (fine feather work) has been officially recognised as a “living heritage” by the French government.

It became part of the Moulin family in 2009 and handles some three tonnes of ostrich, pheasant and rooster feathers for the cabaret each year.

Embroidery is handled by Atelier Valentin using the ancestral technique of Luneville crochet and chain stitch.

“The marvellous has always fascinated me. There is no limit to what you can embroider: sequins, pearls, rhinestones, repurposed metal pieces… The only imperative for a stage costume is to be strong,” said its director, Caroline Valentin, whose other clients including the Paris Opera, Disney, Givenchy and the Academie Francaise.

Shoes are another integral part of the show, especially for the energetic high-kicking antics of the Can-Can that conclude every evening.

Clairvoy, a cobblers founded in 1945, has been part of the Moulin’s operation since 2007.

Nicolas Maistriaux, 45, and his team make the troupe’s shoes, taking up to 60 hours to assemble each pair, not counting their maintenance and renewal when the dancers’ heels wear them out.

Kylie Minogue also called on Maison Clairvoy for her recent tour.

“Our jobs are rewarding beyond anything,” said Valentin. “We have the absolutely immense chance to create beauty… That’s what artistic craftsmanship is all about.”

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