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"My father was a military man, a macho cartoonist. He crushed my mother, but I rebelled against him."
The recent film "How to Be a Good Wife" presents an inconceivable historical truth: popular schools that operated in France a total of just over fifty years ago, and trained women to be exemplary housewives.
The director, Martin Provo, recounts how it all came down to a rebellion against his father's toxic masculinity
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Juliette Binoche
Avner Shavit, Paris
Friday, 10 September 2021, 01:48 Updated: 02:27
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France has the image of a liberal and progressive state that has broken out and charted a path when it comes to equal rights. But in fact, her history in the field is quite dismal, for example when it comes to the status of women: the breakthroughs in this regard happened to her later than in many other countries.
Only in 1965 were French women given the right to open a bank account without the permission of their spouses. Only about a decade later, there is a total ban on gender segregation in the education system. And perhaps most amazing of all: by the end of the 1960s, there were many schools in the country that were only for women, and instead of teaching them core subjects, philosophy and the like, as men learned, they were taught to cook, clean - and in short, how to be exemplary housewives.
"How to Be a Good Woman," which aired this weekend in Israeli cinemas, takes place inside such a school, in the late 1960s. That is: a moment before the social protest of May '68, which will change France forever, and a moment before these institutions begin to disappear from the landscape.
The film was written and directed by Martin Provo, and he did so following a conversation with a woman in her eighties, who in her youth attended such an institution.
"She told me that in the final exams, she had to hunt a rabbit and then take out his intestines. I imagined the teacher standing and ordering her to do so, and I immediately told myself that this was a good scene for the film," he says in an interview with Walla!
Culture on the occasion of the release of the film in Israel.
"After that conversation, I went back home and watched archive footage documenting these schools in time. It was a little fun, but mostly horrifying. A lot of the young actresses participating in the film heard about these schools from their grandmothers, who attended them, and they came to film with the original textbooks." .
More on Walla!
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To the full article
Final test: hunt a rabbit and remove its intestines.
From "How to be a good woman" (Photo: New Cinema)
Alongside the young actresses, the film features two of the most famous actresses in France - Yoland Moro and Juliette Binoche, who plays the school principal, who over time adapts herself and her students to the changing and revolutionary times.
"Juliette and I had a strong desire to work together. I can not explain why - the relationship between director and actress is a mysterious thing," says the filmmaker. "We were supposed to work on another project, which didn't work out, and I thank God, because thanks to that we made this film. I'm very happy with it. It does take place in the past, but I think it's very relevant today. It's a story that should have been told."
I have met Provo twice before, and he was quite stiff. This time, when we meet in a Parisian hotel room with some other journalists, the director is radiant and shining. Indeed, the making of the film and the discourse about it seem to give him great pleasure and pride.
Provo has previously directed a number of successful and acclaimed films.
Two of them were distributed in Israel - "Sarafin" and "The Midwife".
Common to his works: they always place women at the center.
"I tried in the past to make a film about a man and I couldn't," he says.
"I think it comes from my family background."
"My father was a military man. He fought in a commando, and was a macho cartoonist. I remember in the family business cards, only his name was written. He crushed my mother and tried to oppress me too, but I rebelled against him at a young age - and this revolt continues until Today and is reflected in the content I deal with.
"To the credit of my father I will say that he was a very smart and educated man.
In my youth he brought me a book by Rilke that had a profound effect on me.
Rilke predicted that the 20th century would bring with it the revolution of women - and that is exactly what happened. "
Baba Rebellion.
Director Martin Provo (Photo: Carol Virgin)
What do you remember from the events of May 68?
"I was 11. The storm started in Paris and we were far away, and yet we felt the wings of history. I remember very well how my mother collected sugar and pasta, because the feeling was that the revolution was on its way."
Why did you decide to place the film in Alsace?
"I wanted to choose a place where the trauma of World War II was particularly noticeable. Alsace was one of the areas hardest hit, and the memory of the war was tangible even twenty years later."
The wings of history.
From "How to be a good woman" (Photo: New Cinema)
Without spoilers, it is said that the film has a very significant musical number.
How did you work on it?
"We worked on it for six months, it was very complicated and in the end the result was less ambitious than I had planned. I would be happy to make one day, a film that would be a musical from start to finish. I do not know if I have a chance to raise the budget, but I talked about it. With Juliette. "
"Sarafin" from your pen dealt with the painter Sarafin from Selenis, who was forgotten for decades, until your film arrived.
Since then, she has returned to the center of the stage.
Yesterday I was at an exhibition and her paintings star there.
"The film changed everything. Thanks to him, Sarafin was resurrected after being completely erased, and entered the canon. I am aware of that and proud of it. What could be more important than helping someone find the place she deserves in history?"
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