Filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius considers “omerta” on sexual violence in cinema “fantasized” and “abusive”

The filmmaker, president of the Fémis film school, was heard during a hearing on Monday before the commission of inquiry created on the subject by parliamentarians of the National Assembly.

Director Michel Hazanavicius wins Oscar for the film The Artist and known for the films OSS 117, was interviewed on Monday June 3 as president of Fémis, the prestigious French film school, before the commission of inquiry created on sexual violence in cinema by parliamentarians of the National Assembly.

“The somewhat systematic explanation of omerta in cinema, (…) I find it a little abusive and a little fantasized“, replied Michel Hazanavicius to the president of the commission. MP Erwan Balanant (Modem) drew a parallel between cinema and the Camorra, the Neapolitan mafia.

The freedom of speech movement is “an absolutely major revolution“, he continued. “She goes at a pace that is not dragging at all, but what’s more, she makes almost no mistakes, she does it almost without violence and without falling heads. We are not in terror. We are in something that is done in a very adult, intelligent and remarkable way.“, greeted Michel Hazanavicius.

“When people tell me: it’s not going fast enough, I don’t completely agree“, however, he declared. “Things go at the only pace that is acceptable, which is the pace of the victims, of the words of the victims.“, whose desire to file a complaint or not must be respected. As president of the board of directors of Fémis, he felt that the role of the school was to explain to students that they would not be “not burned in the profession“if they reported acts of aggression:”I think these are fantasies“, he stressed.

Michel Hazanavicius was also questioned by rapporteur Francesca Pasquini (EELV) on the initial choice of Gérard Depardieu to interpret one of the voices in his animated film The most prestigious of goodspresented in May at Cannes, before finally separating in 2023 from the actor, accused of rape.

“I completely accept that I have things within me that may seem contradictory“, said the filmmaker. “I actually made the choice (in 2019) to call on this actor with whom I disagree on many things, whether political or behavioral. We can contest this choice, but I do not believe that it is immoral, in any case. And in 2023, I separated from Gérard Depardieu (…) his situation had changed“.