The director was nominated for his new film J’Accuse, about the controversial Dreyfus affair at the end of the 19th century, when a French-Jewish captain was wrongly accused of treason. Polanski and his crew are not present at the ceremony. The director says he fears a “public lynch party”. He related the allegations to anti-Semitism, the subject of the film.
The protest also continued in the room. Polanski’s film eventually received three awards, including that for best film and best director. When the latter was announced, various actresses got up and left the room.
Board resigned
The discussion about the nominations has run so high that the (completely male) board of the César Academy has resigned collectively. The French Minister of Culture has the nominations of J’Accuse called a “bad signal”. Countless actresses and feminists reacted with great indignation.
“Distinguishing Polanski is spitting in the face of victims,” said actress Adèle Haenel, who says she was abused as a child by another director. She believes that France has missed the boat with regard to #MeToo. Haenel was one of the actresses who left the room when Polanski received the prize for best director.
Polanski still receives support from prominent figures, such as Brigitte Bardot. He spoke out more often to #MeToo and told shortly before the Césars that the controversial director is not to blame in her eyes.
“We should be grateful to him for living and protecting French cinema from mediocrity,” she wrote on Twitter. “I judge him by his talent and not his private life.”
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