Two days ago, the César Awards, known as the "Oscars of France", were pushed to the forefront of public opinion because of the huge controversy over the award. On the evening of February 28, local time, the 45th César Awards ceremony was officially held in Paris. French director Romain Polanski, with his latest work "I Accuse", won two awards in succession: "Best Director" and "Best Adapted Screenplay"
But what is surprising is that the director Roman Polanski, who won a high César Award, not only did not get a round of applause, but ushered in the indignant departure of many filmmakers on the spot
Adèle Haenel, a famous French actress nominated for "Portrait of a Burning Woman", was the first to walk out of the venue, and before the award ceremony was over, she shouted "shame" and left the scene
Subsequently, Céline Sciamma, the director of the "Portrait of the Burning Woman", the lead actor Noémie Merlant, and several other actors and media also withdrew to protest
The protest was not directed against the film "I Accuse," but at the director Romain Polanski himself and to the César Prize jury that awarded the prize to him
It turns out that Roman Polanski is not only a director, he is also a fugitive criminal wanted for sexually abusing young girls.
In 1977, Roman Polanski committed a sexual assault of a girl at jack Nicholson's home with a 13-year-old toddler, Samanta Gammer. Despite confessing all the crimes at the time, on the eve of sentencing, Roman Polanski fled the United States for fear of an unfair verdict
More than forty years later, Roman Polanski, who fled to Europe, continued his film career, but never returned to the United States. Such a director who has committed heinous crimes, although extremely talented in art, is regarded by many as a "shame in film history" by many.
César Awards has awarded two important awards in succession to Romain Polanski, who has a history of sexual assault, no doubt touching the bottom line of many people. Adela, the heroine of "Portrait of a Burning Woman", who took the lead in getting up and leaving the table, was extremely angry, and shouted "la pédophilie, bravo la pédophilie" while clapping inside the venue.
In a post-mortem interview, she also stressed: "To honor Polanski is to spit in the face of all sexual assault victims." That is equivalent to saying that the person who rapes a woman will not end up too bad. ”
Adele is so angry not without reason, because she was also a victim of sexual assault.
On November 4, 2019, Adella used the French media to report director Christophe Ruggia under her real name, pointing out that the then 36-year-old director had repeatedly sexually harassed her between the ages of 12 and 15 when she was filming the movie "Devil's Child", including "stroking her thighs and body" and "forcibly kissing her neck"
She was so young that she was so devastated by the incident that she was so frightened that she gave up continuing her film career, until 2007, when Adella Harnell, a high school graduate, met Christel Baras, the casting director of "Daffodil Blossom", by chance, and was persuaded to open her heart and say that she would continue acting
On November 26, 2019, Adella decided to file a complaint against director Christopher Lukia. After the allegations were confirmed as factual, the French Directors Guild (SRF) gathered more than 300 members of the association and voted unanimously to remove the accused directors
On the 23rd of the same month, Adèle, as a feminist, and Serene Theanmar, director of Portrait of the Burning Woman, publicly participated in the NousToutes march, the largest demonstration against gender-based violence in French history
For this voice at the end of last year, Adella Harnell responded: The voice is not to hold Lukia legally responsible, but the law ignores victims like her, hoping to break the silence of the industry on such phenomena and put the world back on track
Poster of The Devil's Child
As a victim of sexual assault, we can all imagine the anger with which Adela was able to live a life in the face of Roman Polanski as a sexual assault and receive the César Award
The demon Roman Polanski did not only commit the 1977 sexual assault case, but in the decades after he fled to Europe, he did not reflect on his mistakes in the work, but continued to extend his claws to the female filmmakers around him
On November 8, 2019, French actress Valentine Monnier, through The Parisian, revealed that Polanski had raped her in 1975 in a ski hut in Gstaad, Switzerland, when she was only 18 years old.
In 2010, British actress Charlotte Lewis revealed that Roman Polanski had sexually assaulted the 16-year-old in Paris in 1983
"He said to me, if you're not qualified to sleep with me, you're not qualified for the audition. I must have slept with every actress I worked with so that I could get to know and shape them. I've had relationships with all the women I've worked with."
What a heinous and demonic statement! No art should come at the cost of violating the law and violating human rights!
In the face of such arrogant sexual assault can still be commended, first the filmmakers present were angry, they took the lead in leaving the protest; then the French people outside the scene were also angry, people took to the streets, broke out in collective protest, held up signs, and expressed their dissatisfaction with the award results in a parade:
"I complain that Polanski won the César Prize!"
"Rape is not a movie!"
Adela, the big star who just left the stage, also took off the Celine dress prepared for the award ceremony, changed into a casual dress, and took to the streets with all the protesters to march and speak
In the long darkness of the night, the voices of protesters resounded throughout Paris, and the red light of their torches lit up the collective way forward and lit up every face fighting for rights
This scene can't help but remind people of the scene in the movie "Women Suffragette" in which British women fight for women's suffrage, "female wanderers go forward, looking for a position of freedom"
And the faces illuminated under the fire are really like a realistic version of "Portrait of a Burning Woman"
Adella's shortlisted film "Portrait of a Burning Woman" is an all-female film that reflects the unexpected and forbidden love of women in a patriarchal society on the way to forced to accept the arrangement of fate
The French film, which was second only to Parasite in Cannes, was awarded best screenplay at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival, and the film was nominated for the 72nd Cannes Palme d'Or
The main creative team of directors and actors is all women, and the film also unfolds from the perspective of "female painter", "bride" and "maid", and is praised as "Portrait of a Burning Woman", which can be frozen into a painting in each shot, which is an ascetic love letter for women to break through the shackles of patriarchal society
In contrast to "I Accuse", which won two heavyweight awards, the internationally acclaimed "Portrait of a Burning Woman" was awarded at the César Awards except for the "Best Cinematography (Consolation) Award", which is a regrettable result, not only like spitting in the face of the victim, but also seems to reflect to some extent, even in the film industry women still have a long way to go to achieve mainstream recognition
In a public protest outside the César Awards venue on Feb. 28, the César Awards board announced their collective resignation, but in an open letter before resigning, they insisted that "the award of works should be based on the work itself, not on moral stance."
The relationship between art and morality has always been an indispensable topic in film, but as former French Minister of Culture Aureli Felipeti said, "Creators and works can be treated separately, but artists must abide by the law."
We respect artistic inquiry and freedom of creation, but this does not mean that we must also tolerate the heinous atrocities of artists and allow them, as citizens, to take the law and human rights above the law and human rights on the grounds of creation
In the long history of mankind, women have gone from the "second sex" excluded by the patriarchal society, to the "right to vote" in modern times to the same "right to vote" as men, to the modern gender equality and mutual respect, we have exchanged the long time and even blood of generations of ancestors for the right to avoid infringement in legal provisions
This right should not be violated by anyone under any pretext, and art, which should symbolize mankind's yearning for a better future, should not be an excuse for some people to violate laws and violate human rights
On February 28, 2020, an award ceremony that was supposed to discuss the art of cinema turned into a group protest and a historical event that went down in history because of some people and some things.
We regret that on such a high stage of gold content, the voice of female resistance can only be heard by breaking the rules; we are angry that in the ceremony of world attention, criminals can still wear the shell of an artist and even be praised.
"Virtue and art double Xin", should always be, virtue first, art second.
Editing/Cuteness
Assistant/Zijie