The 75th Cannes International Film Festival, which takes place from May 17 to 28, is an opportunity to examine the place of women in cinema. Partner of this unmissable event, France TV has chosen to give them the floor. Sunday May 15, 2022, France 2 broadcast the last two parts of the documentary The cheeky ones, fresco in four parts which explores the burning question of inequalities in French cinema of yesterday and today.
“Reflecting on this collection of four documentary films around the place of women in cinema has been fascinating. Fascinating because it has never been done and because through cinema, it is obviously the whole of French society that we are looking at. It is well known, the cinema is the mirror. We were lucky enough to be able to explore all of its fields, from the most confidential to the most general public. The place of women, their representation, their fight are played out everywhere and by everyone: women in the shadows as well as stars.“, explains the producer Muriel Meynard.
In this incredible series of interviews carried by the voice of Daphné Roulier, great French actresses evoked the difficulties encountered during their career and in particular at their beginnings. Mélanie Laurent also explains that she had the opportunity to work with “hard and perverse” directors. “I was young too… I don’t even understand how people can do such things. I was 15, 17, and I’ve done movies where directors dragged me in front of the combo and said, Look at the shit you’re doing and try to fix it. Very humiliating stuff and then we are small.“, explains the actress.
Marked by these humiliations, Mélanie Laurent also explains that she has not forgotten them. “I kept my mouth shut a lot and I think that at some point, today, you can see in my eyes that you shouldn’t bother me anymore. ‘Cause I’ll never get pissed off again…“, she confides.
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