As we’ve covered Hollywood’s reception to the #MeToo movement and Harvey Weinstein’s sexual misconduct, there have been a number of trends. One of the more recent trends, which we covered, is how some in the European film community are defending the actions of Weinstein and denouncing #MeToo. The common theme seems to be that Weinstein has done amazing things for European cinema and how #MeToo is out for blood, so to speak.
The latest to speak out is French filmmaker Catherine Breillat. Speaking on the Murmur Podcast (which has now been pulled, for whatever reason, and thankfully transcribed by IndieWire), Breillat had a lot to say. And we mean A LOT.
She begins the interview by saying that “Europeans have lost a lot” since Weinstein was taken down. Breillat then goes on a long rant about how Jessica Chastain lied about calling the infamous “butter scene” in “Last Tango in Paris” rape. But all of this was leading up to her real targets, #MeToo (and the French equivalent #BalanceTonPorc, or “denounce your pig”) and actress Asia Argento.
“It’s too easy to accuse people via hashtags anonymously; we have a justice system. And France, too, has a history with ‘balance ton juif,’ ‘denounce your jew.’ We know the hashtag #BalanceTonPorc was invented out of vengeance. This isn’t to diminish women; there are real rapes and real violence. In French, the word violence contains viol: rape. That’s why the reception of my films was frequently so devastating,” said the filmmaker
“Women mustn’t be afraid to speak out, but still, you can’t resort to #MeToo about verbal violence. Of course, if you’re 14, verbal violence can be the same as actual physical aggression, but when you’re 25 or 30 and you go to a man’s hotel room, you know the game,” she continues. “Women shouldn’t present themselves as bimbos or innocent young things regardless of their age. Rather, we have to educate young girls so that they’re better equipped to defend themselves and so they don’t feel soiled just because someone said something to them. That’s not sufficient. They have to know how to respond.”
She concludes the rant about the movement by saying, “I’m not for #BalanceTonPorc, or for #MeToo for that matter. #MeToo, we knew all about it. My films deal with that, and the same people who saw #MeToo are those who attack my films — and with a lot of violence.”
Her films, for those who are familiar, are very controversial with their use of sexuality. Even still, Breillat considers herself a feminist…off the set. She says that she doesn’t like to bring her feminism on set because she believes that feminists can go too far, but she agrees that rape is a crime.
However, the real drama to come from this interview is about Breillat’s comments on actress Asia Argento, an actress that she worked with on her film “The Last Mistress” and who has come out with her own stories of being a victim of sexual assault. “To be very honest, I don’t believe Asia,” she says bluntly. “I know her, and she was very, very young…If there’s anyone I don’t believe, it’s Asia Argento. As a person, Asia Argento is quite servile. I never asked her to kiss my feet, but she’s that kind of person. I don’t believe Asia. If there’s anyone capable of defending herself, who’s not timid about sex, who does it a lot, and has lots and lots of desire for both men and women, it’s her. So I don’t believe Asia.”
When asked about what she thinks Argento’s motivations would be to lie, she says, “For Asia, it was obviously, let’s say, motivated by self-interest — it was a kind of semi-prostitution. Harvey Weinstein’s not the worst man there is; he’s not the most stupid, either. Asia may have been disappointed that she didn’t become a great Hollywood actress she might have been, but there were lots of other things: drugs, many other things. She feels bitter. Because bitterness, too, can lead people to denounce if you wanted to obtain something and you didn’t obtain it, if you feel humiliated. Quite honestly, I don’t like Asia. I think she’s a mercenary and a traitor.”
Just this morning, Argento fired back with a series of tweets, “Catherine Breillat is the most sadistic and downright evil director I’ve ever worked with. She took extreme pleasure on humiliating both her actors and crew during the shoot of ‘Last Mistress’. Before shooting ‘Last Mistress’, Breillat had just suffered a stroke and none of us had the courage to stand up against her cruelties in fear she would have another one. She took advantage of this and treated us like shit, knowing we couldn’t anger her. During the shoot I fell terribly ill and ended up at the hospital where I had to be operated. As I fought to stay alive with a terrible infection, she would come to visit me and tell me I would never work again because I made her stop shooting.”
Catherine Breillat is the most sadistic and downright evil director I’ve ever worked with. She took extreme pleasure on humiliating both her actors and crew during the shoot of “Last Mistress”. *Thread https://t.co/J8KtLC0ueE
— Asia Argento (@AsiaArgento) March 30, 2018