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"Sharon Stone has been lying for thirty years. She gave me her panties as a gift."
Even at 82, Paul Verhoeven continues to be a hopeless provocateur.
The creator of "Basic Instinct" and "Amusement Girls" is now thrilling the Cannes Film Festival with "Bandetta," the most talked-about film of the festival.
In an exclusive and special interview with the Israeli media, he talks about Sharon Stone, nudity and puritanism
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Paul Verhoeven
Sharon Stone
Cannes Film Festival
Avner Shavit, Cannes
Tuesday, 13 July 2021, 00:04 Updated: 00:13
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From "Bandetta" (Cannes Film Festival)
The Cannes Film Festival has already reached its midpoint, and it is easy to determine what is the most talked about and scandalous film in it so far: "Bandetta", which was screened as part of the official competition and provoked agitated and mixed reactions. Some define it as a masterpiece, and some categorize it as trash; Some have written that he is a feminist or post-feminist and some have accused him of misogyny; Some applauded him, and some threw rotten tomatoes at him. The truth, in my opinion, is somewhere in the middle. But as we know, we are not in a time when there is room for subtleties.
These reactions are not surprising given the identity of "Benedetta" director: Paul Verhoeven, who has signed on to some of the most controversial films of our generation, most notably "Basic Instinct", "Amusement Girls" and "She". The Dutch creator returns here to the genre in which he experimented as early as the 1980s with "The Bloody Novel", his first film in the English language. That is, a period film set in the Middle Ages.
This time, it's a French - speaking film that takes us on a journey towards the dark side of an Italian monastery in the 17th century. He is called a nun who claims that Jesus entered her body, and thus manages to manipulate and control the nuns. At the same time she begins to have an affair with one of the nuns, and into this cauldron also enters a plague that is raging outside. This is not a hint to Corona, as "Bandetta" was filmed two years ago, and its premiere was postponed along with the postponement of the Cannes Film Festival last year.
What's in the movie? What's not in it. It is only said that a scene in which the nuns use a religious figurine as a dildo is another subtle passage in this work, which as usual in Verhoeven is flooded with violence and sexuality.
"Some of the criticisms came from claims that I describe how the nuns sit on the toilet together," says Verhoeven, in an exclusive interview with the Israeli media on the Riviera. "People come to me with complaints as if I did something horrible and terrible, but collective responsibility is a natural and acceptable thing. When I was in the army, we did it all the time,And so it was in the monasteries. "
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Paul Verhoeven at Cannes with "Benedetta" stars, Virginia Afira (right) and Daphne Patakia (Photo: GettyImages, Andreas Renz)
The film attacks religious fundamentalism in the Middle Ages. Is this an allegory for political correctness today?
"Puritanism today is unbearable, and I do not believe it will survive long. How long will it last? Maybe ten years, maybe twenty years, maybe thirty, but no more than that. The human body is not a sacred thing. In the Netherlands of the seventies, and here on the Riviera "Women used to walk around topless and no one cared. Today, the human body is once again treated as a forbidden fruit."
The film is based on the reference book of historian Judith Brown, which documented the first known cases of same-sex romances between nuns. According to Verhoeven, most of what happens in it is true to historical truth. "Some people are not interested in the past, but I am," he says. "I made the film to show the changes we went through as a society. There are places where we have gone backwards, and there are places where we have progressed. Today, no one in the Western world will be interested in a lesbian affair. In the monasteries of those days,That was a serious offense. "
How accurate are all the details in the film?
"I know everyone is terribly curious about the dildo scene. I do not know why everyone is so upset. A lot of women use dildos, so what? Sexual desire is the most natural thing there is. I have bitches and they also sometimes jump on each other.
" Anyway , The use of the dildo does not appear in the book on which I relied.
So why did we add it to the script?
To intensify the drama, I wanted one of the characters to go into focus.
But in those days, a net lesbian affair was a ground for punishment only, not execution.
The use of a dildo-like tool, however, has already been a cause for fire. "
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A hopeless provocateur.
Paul Verhoeven at Cannes (Photo: GettyImages, Pascal La Sergaten)
The conversation takes place with six other journalists from all over Europe, including a Dutchman who is of course excited to talk to the famous and successful of his directors. One of the six tells Warhoven that there is something of the farce in the film. "I did not plan for the film to be a farce," he says in response. "If you thought so, then I failed. In one of the highlights, one of the nuns commits suicide. It's not really funny, is it? I do not even think the film is a black comedy. It is a tragedy. What is true, is that there is humor here. I always combine humor with violence, As I did in 'Robocop' and 'Fateful Memory'.
Although the conversation takes place in honor of "Benedetta", of course at some point it quotes Sharon Stone, who starred in "Fatal Memory" and "Basic Instinct".
In her recently released autobiography, Stone makes claims against the director. She writes that he belittled her, insisted on calling her "Karen" even though he knew her real name and generally did not respect her. Worst of all, she claims he manipulated her into exposing her pubic area with "basic instinct," even though he assured her that the audience would see nothing; And if that wasn't enough, she discovered the deception only at a pre-premiere screening of the film, surrounded by a host of foreign men licking their lips.
"Sharon Stone has been lying for thirty years," says Verhoeven. "The relationship between us is good, and right now we just agreed that we remember things differently. My memory is different from its own, and my memory is also good of its own."
What do you remember?
"How could she have filmed this scene without knowing what was going on? The camera is in front of her. She invents everything. She also never slapped me as she tells. She had no problem in real time. There is also an interesting detail that she for some reason chooses to omit. "At the time, right after the filming, she brought me her panties as a gift. Besides, did you read the book?"
The truth is, in full.
"So you know Stone writes his name. She was a whip camera like that. She used it too, so she's behind the decision I made."
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"She invents everything."
Sharon Stone in "Basic Instinct" (Photo: Screenshot, from "Basic Instinct")
Verhoeven continues his obsession with blondes also in "Benedetta", which stars the excellent Virgina Ephraim, one of the rising and esteemed stars in France.
"I don't think what happened to Sharon Stone will happen to her with her," says the director.
"She got the script before the filming. She knew exactly how they did each and every scene and we talked about everything."
The reactions in Cannes are sometimes bad and sometimes good, but what will happen when the film arrives in America?
It can be assumed that there will be less tolerant of him.
"I guess the attitude will vary between different countries, depending on the general attitude towards nudity and sex. The United States will probably react differently, but in the Netherlands we are very liberal. In recent years, when filming sex scenes in Hollywood there is a new role called 'Intimacy Coordinator'. It's very strange, and I did not use it. "
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Controversial.
From "Bandetta" (Photo: Guy Ferrandis / SBS Productions)
Waiting two years for the film to meet the audience.
"Because of the Corona's constraints, and it was awful. The wait was a difficult experience, and I also had hip surgery at that time. Now that the film has gone on the world air, I feel very distant from it. I sat in the premiere and watched it as someone else directed it. I kept telling myself. ' It's a pity I didn't do it like that, it's a pity I didn't do it differently. "It was only in the middle of the screening that I began to develop confidence and believe in the film."
What are the plans for the future?
"I'm already 82 years old, but I have a lot of other plans in mind. I want to direct a film about the life of Jesus, among other things. Some of the greatest Dutch painters have painted their best paintings at my age, and I also hope the climax is before."
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