René Clement, director of classics such as ‘A Full Sun’ or ‘Forbidden Games’ was the author of this “casting request” in 1964.
The 2023 Cannes Festival has begun with the controversial presence not only of Johnny Depp, but of Maiwenn, director and co-star of ‘Jeanne du Barry’. The French filmmaker is a firm that detracts from the MeToo movement, a movement that in France has found more opposition and criticism than support, unlike in much of the rest of the world. The country, which awarded the César for Best Director to Roman Polanski for ‘The Officer and the Spy’ (an award that made Adele Haenel, a famous and award-winning actress who denounced having suffered harassment and abuse by Christophe Ruggia, retire from the cinema) has seen how figures of the stature of Catherine Deneuve turned against women who wanted to denounce not only their own experiences but also the systematic abuse of power by men in the film industry against women.
France is the cradle of cinema, the cradle of auteur cinema, of film criticism, of the Nouvelle Vague, of the most important film festival in the world… However, or perhaps because of all this, it seems that it is where the patriarchal system is more strongly entrenched. Jane Fonda, a mythical actress and American political activist who also became a sexual myth in the sixties thanks, among other things, to the films she made together with her partner at the time, the French filmmaker, knows something about this. Roger Vadim.
It was in that golden age of French cinema, where figures like Catherine Deneuve or Brigitte Bardot elevated the sensuality and elegance of French women to the category of myth, where Fonda has something to say, something that should make us think that after those glitters there were much uglier things.
In the most recent episode of ‘Watch What Happens Live’, Fonda revealed that the French director René Clement, award-winning author of classics such as ‘In Full Sun’ or ‘Forbidden Games’, asked her to sleep with him during the filming of ‘The Felines’ ‘, quotes that Fonda co-starred with Lola Albright and Alain Delon. The curious thing, yes, is the excuse.
Well, he wanted to sleep with me because he said the character had to orgasm in the movie and he needed to see what my orgasms were like. He said it in French and I pretended that he didn’t understand him.
Perhaps the worst is how Fonda ends the story:
I’ve got more stories for you, kid, but we don’t have that much time.
Clément was 51 years old at the time while Fonda was only 27. Interestingly, Clément won five awards at the Cannes festival. The aforementioned Adèle Haenel published a harsh letter last month against the Cannes Film Festival for being “willing to do anything to defend their rapist bosses”, citing names with multiple accusations and even convictions behind them such as Roman Polanski and Gerard Depardieu.
The director of the festival, Theirry Fremaux, did not defend himself in the most elegant way to the press when asked about it.
If you thought it was a rapist festival, you wouldn’t be here listening to me, you wouldn’t be complaining that you can’t get tickets to the performances.
Source: Fotogramas
Jason Root is a writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth coverage of famous people in entertainment, sports, and politics. He has a passion for uncovering the stories behind the headlines and bringing readers an inside look at the lives of the famous. He has been writing for Gossipify for several years and has a degree in Journalism from UC Berkeley.
