French actress Adèle Haenel, known for her role in ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’, announces that leave the film industry permanently. After leaving behind ‘L’Empire’, the new Bruno Dumont, Haenel explains his reasons for abandoning this project and his profession in the cinema.
“I want to participate in another world”
“I’m not going to make any more movies,” he told FAQ “For political reasons. Because the film industry is absolutely reactionary, racist and patriarchal. We are wrong to believe that the powerful have good will, that the world is moving in the right direction under their good and sometimes clumsy management. It is not like this. The only thing that structurally moves society is the social struggle. And it seems to me that in my case going out is fighting. Leaving this industry forever, I want to participate in another world, in another cinema.”
Regarding Dumont’s problem, Haenel explains: “At first, it seemed like fun: a kind of Luke Skywalker in space. The problem is that, behind that funny facade, defended a dark, racist and sexist world. The script was full of jokes about cancellation and sexual violence. I tried to discuss it with Dumont, since I thought we could talk. He wanted to believe for the umpteenth time that it wasn’t intentional. But it was. The contempt was deliberate (…) They wanted to make a science fiction movie with a all white cast and a racist narrative. I didn’t want to support that“.
“I don’t want to be part of a feminist washing machine” he adds, citing examples of the industry’s hypocrisy, such as the fact that the director of the CNC (the French organization to promote cinema) remains in office despite allegations of sexual harassment.
The actress has decided to dedicate herself exclusively to theater but does not rule out working in collaboration with fellow activists such as Céline Sciamma (‘Portrait of a Woman on Fire’) or Gisèle Vienne. “If I stayed in this industry today it would be a kind of feminist guarantee for her (…) This industry works hand in hand with the world economic order, in which all lives are not equal“.