Cannes critics of Macron for "neoliberal" reignite debate over film subsidies in France

It is one of these controversies that reveal attitudes and tics of a country. In France, where culture is taken very seriously and protected as a national treasure, the intellectual and the creator are endowed with a wisdom sometimes detached from reality, and some leaders sometimes exhibit a unique thin skin and arrogance when it comes to accommodating criticism. The last Cannes festival was a concentration of some of the vices and virtues of the French cultural system.

On May 27, when receiving the Palme d'Or for her film Anatomy of a Fall, the director, Justine Triet, attacked the president, Emmanuel Macron, and the government: "This year a historic, extremely powerful, unanimous response against the pension reform has swept through the country. This contestation has been denied and repressed in a shocking way, and this scheme of dominating power increasingly uncomplexed explodes in various fields. Obviously, socially it is where it is most shocking. But we can also see it in other spheres of society. And cinema does not escape it. The commodification of culture that the neoliberal government defends is breaking the French cultural exception. The same cultural exception without which I would not be before you today."

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Justine Triet, a feminist, auteur and commercial cinema that deserves the Palme d'Or

Triet's barrage received applause in the room, which was joined by left-wing politicians on social networks. "Thanks to Justine Triet for her bravery, as well as her talent," said Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the political platform La France Insoumise. Immediately, Macronist ministers and deputies came out in droves. Culture Minister Rima Abdul-Malak said: "Happy that the Palme d'Or is awarded to Justine Triet, tenth for France! But stunned by his unfair speech. This film would not have been able to see the light without our French model of film financing, which allows a unique diversity in the world. Let's not forget that." Industry Minister Roland Lescure added: "Anatomy of the ingratitude of a profession we help so much... and of an art we love so much!" And MP Charles Sitzenstuhl exclaimed: "Alas, the famous 'neoliberal' France that defends the cultural exception (against the logics of the market) and subsidizes its film industry with public funds!" Macron, who in 2021 had congratulated the previous Frenchwoman awarded the Palme d'Or, abstained from doing so with Triet.

French Culture Minister Rima Abdul-Malak at a session in the National Assembly on May 30. ALAIN JOCARD (AFP)

Triet's critique had two parts. The first was dedicated to pension reform, adopted by decree after months of demonstrations against it and despite the fact that 70% of the French were opposed. It is a legitimate and widely shared criticism in France. That is why they missed Triet's accusations of "ingratitude", as if the artist who receives public aid should refrain from criticizing the government.

"From the Hollywood Oscars to the Berlin festival, the laureates' speeches are often political," recalled Dov Alfon, editor of the left-wing daily Libération, on France Inter. "It should be stressed that our ministers of culture applaud when a filmmaker criticizes a foreign government about the right to abortion or the war in Iraq, but a phrase critical of Macron and then, alas! This is too much!"

More debatable is Triet's second criticism, which described the government as "neoliberal" and accused it of "commodating" culture. Since Macron came to power in 2017, the budget for Culture has increased by more than 22%, and by 7% in 2023. There is also a robust film support system that is the envy of other countries.

The essayist Frédéric Martel is the author, among other books, of Culture in America, on the American cultural system, and has edited a volume with the texts and speeches of Jack Lang, Minister of Culture with François Mitterrand. Every week on France Cultura, he directs and presents the Soft Power programme, dedicated to the cultural industries. Martel declares by telephone: "The film sector in France is one of the most subsidized in the world and has produced, thanks to state aid, 287 films in 2022 and, nevertheless, they always demand more subsidies and aid and with fewer and fewer obligations and audience results."

French President Emmanuel Macron at a press conference in Moldova on June 1. Associated Press/LaPresse (AP)

The Anatomy of a Fall itself, for which Triet received the Palme d'Or, is an example. The film cost 6.2 million euros, about half of which came from public entities, according to an analysis by the publication Écran Total, cited in Le Monde. The National Center of Cinema and Animated Image (CNC), founded after World War II, advanced 500,000 euros and authorized a tax relief of 1.2 million. The regions of Rhône-Alpes-Auvergne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Charente-Maritime added 510,000 euros in aid, to which is added almost one million more from public television. As Le Monde points out, all this money cannot be strictly described as a "subsidy", since a part must be returned, or it is granted in exchange for the exploitation rights of the film.

Martel recalls that, historically, there has been a tradition inherited from Lang in France according to which the ministers of culture never criticized artists. That Adbul-Malak has replicated Triet is "fairly new." The essayist adds: "What the minister says, in short, is not: 'If you are given money, keep quiet.' What it says is rather, 'If you are given money, do not say that you are not given money.' It is a film subsidized by the French system which, as a cultural model, is anything but neoliberal, not even liberal. It's a socialist system!"

This system is particular: cinema tickets are taxed at a rate of around 13%, which makes it possible to finance French creation. It is a redistributive system within the industry: it is not the French taxpayers who pay with their taxes, but only those who go to the cinema when buying the tickets. In this way, the films that earn more help give to those that earn less. As it happens, since more than 50% of the collection comes from American blockbusters, it ends up being the mass and popular cinema produced in the United States that finances independent and minority cinema in France.

"It's a brilliant idea in terms of cultural sovereignty," Martel observes. "At the same time," he says ironically, "it's a bit like Robin of the Woods, but in reverse: the popular classes and young people pay for the children of bourgeois to make auteur films that nobody will see."

The debate, for Triet, concerns not so much herself, since she admits that she can finance her films easily, as it does not concern the future of the so-called French cultural exception. "It's the envy of the whole world, because it indicates that films don't need to be profitable," Triet told France Inter after the storm. "And yet, there is a slide towards the idea that we should think about the profitability of films, when in the history of French culture there is something fundamental, precisely, to preserve the idea of non-profitability."

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