I can’t believe that in 2020 there are people who still think that it is ‘fashionable’ to stand up to abuse or that there is something to gain from it but here we are, as if the world wasn’t rotten enough already.
That said. You talk about having nothing to risk without knowing the facts because Adèle had everything to risk and indeed, there were consequences for what she did. The Césars are one of them. Adèle spoke out against Polanski and his defenders back in November, in a much more direct and unforgiving manner than 99% of the Hollywood stars that are championed as fighters for justice because they wear black or write a cool tweet.
She did this and she was punished for it. In France, the MeToo movement wasn’t met with support, especially in the cinema world, it pretty much passed by unnoticed. Adèle is the first public figure in France who spoke out and exposed the system of silence in place to support that abuse, and since she didn’t just share her story but she questioned the whole system and its enablers she became a target. Sure, empty words of praise were spoken about her in terms of her having shared her experience, but when it came to practical action, the support went all to Polanski and the César awards were literally set up by the media as a match between him and her, purposefully making him look like the delicate victim and Adèle the angry feminist lesbian
Want to talk about practical backlash? Portrait of a Lady on Fire lost every award except Cinematography, including Screenplay, Directing, and Best Actress, even though it literally won Best Screenplay at Cannes and Céline Sciamma and Adèle and Noémie had been considered the favorites for those awards. They didn’t award best original screenplay to a film which won best screenplay at arguably the biggest cinema festival in the world and gave instead best adapted screenplay and directing to Polanski, for a movie that’s supposed to evoke his ‘victimization’ by society and media. Adèle was threatened with a dead career for walking out. It wasn’t ‘fashionable’ for her to walk out because France is not like America and most of the support in the media/celebrity world went to Polanski, not her. There were people yelling “Bravo Roman!” in the room, in the row right behind her, which is what made her leave. She went to the awards to support the movie she made and the ideals that movie shares, consent and equality and collaboration, and found herself in a situation where with every award given to Polanski, with every joke about him, the camera cut back to her, just waiting for her reaction. Until she couldn’t take it anymore.
Why couldn’t she take it anymore apart from having basic morals and integrity? Adèle is a survivor of child sexual abuse. She was harassed and molested by the director of her first film from when she was 12 till she was 15 years old, it left her traumatized, suicidal and made her cut off all contacts with the cinema world even though it was something she loved. She spoke out about her abuse because she found out that same director would work with teenagers again for a new movie and she couldn’t let it happen. Her own father didn’t want her to speak out because he thought she was doing it for attention. She didn’t walk out of the Cesars because it was easy or convenient or whatever. She did because she’s a victim of pedophilia and she was asked to celebrate and applaud the triumph of a serial child rapist. It has nothing to do with it being ‘fashionable’.
But if you look at that video and heard the anger in her voice and still think she did this as a media stunt I really don’t know what to tell you other than you can keep your very skewed, horrible opinions off this post.
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