In promotion for her film “Madame de Sévigné”, actress Karin Viard returned to the movement to free speech on sexual violence in French cinema.
On France Inter, guest on the show La Bande Original on Monday, the actress spoke about this “complex” subject, while giving her own experience.
On the set of the film “Potiche”, a comedy by François Ozon released in 2010, the actress reveals that she was the victim of inappropriate behavior on the part of her playing partner, Gérard Depardieu, the target of several complaints for acts of rape and sexual assault.
“I was groped by Gérard Depardieu.
I told him
Oh but it’s not okay!
And he stopped immediately,” she explains.
And to add: “But me, in my psychic organization, I never thought that society had to defend me.
I always thought that I had to defend myself.
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“A form of normality”
Asked more broadly about the MeToo movement in French cinema and about the speech of the actress Judith Godrèche during the 49th César ceremony, Karin Viard recognizes a subject which carries within itself “a certain ambivalence”.
“I found behaviors normal, which in fact today are perfectly abnormal.
But this normality exists, explains the actress, adding that she herself was a victim of inappropriate behavior.
It's me, a priori victim, who can say that.
On the part of those who produced these behaviors, there was a form of normality.
I don't want to excuse them.
I want to set the context of the time which makes a number of things tolerable which are not at all tolerable.
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“When I arrived, I found it normal that men were paid more than me, that women were spoken about in front of me in a completely misogynistic way.
I said
They are a little heavy.
I found it normal that someone would grope me, that someone would physically molest me a little and that someone would stick a hand in my ass…” she lists.
“I participated in this despicable thing”
Karin Viard welcomed the speech of Judith Godrèche, who filed a complaint against the directors Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon for acts of sexual and physical violence that occurred during her adolescence.
While bringing nuance to the supposed silence of French cinema on these facts.
“I would not like anyone to believe that the world of cinema has consciously endorsed this behavior.
You were moving forward a bit blindly, that's how it was.
And I say it, finding it stupid to say it.
But it’s also true, testifies the actress.
I am 58 years old, I am obliged to say that I myself participated in this despicable thing, accepting it and finding it not that shocking after all.
It's crazy when you think about it.
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“This feminist movement, which also sometimes, from my point of view, is a little excessive, is perfectly necessary and it is necessary that the shame changes sides, that the victims no longer feel ashamed,” adds the actress.