On a recent Watch What Happens Live episode, Oscar-winner Jane Fonda was willing to expose at least one director who made unwanted advances toward her. When host Andy Cohen asked Fonda to name a director who tried to pick her up, the actor singled out French director René Clément, per Variety.
Fonda explained: “Well, he wanted to go to bed with me because he said the character had to have an orgasm in the movie and he needed to see what my orgasms were like. He said it in French, and I pretended I didn’t understand.” This was during the production of the MGM-backed 1964 thriller Joy House, in which Fonda starred opposite Alain Delon and Lola Albright.
Clément was a celebrated French director known for The Battle of the Rails (1946), Purple Noon (1960), and Is Paris Burning? (1966). He received five prizes from the Cannes Film Festival during his career as well as France’s national film award, the Honorary César, in 1984. At the time of production on Joy House, Clément was 51 and Fonda was 27.
Perhaps Fonda was willing to tell the truth about Clément because he’s been dead since 1996, but she implied she has even more sordid tales, telling Cohen, “I have stories for you, kid, [but] we don’t have time.”
Fonda’s comments contribute to an already swirling maelstrom of criticism surrounding the American and French film industries, which are both under the microscope this week as the 2023 Cannes Film Festival continues. Yesterday, Johnny Depp was moved to tears by a seven-minute ovation while outside the theater French feminists circulated pamphlets listing abuse allegations against him by ex-wife Amber Heard.
In addition, Portrait of a Lady on Fire actor Adele Haenel published an open letter this month wherein she announces that she’s leaving the film business and criticizes the film festival for being “ready to do anything to defend their rapist chiefs.” The letter singles out filmmakers such as Roman Polanski and Gerard Depardieu.
Theirry Frémaux, director of the festival, told the press that Haenel “didn’t think that when she came to Cannes unless she suffered from a crazy dissonance,” adding, “[I]f you thought that it’s a festival for rapists, you wouldn’t be here listening to me. You would not be complaining that you can’t get tickets to get into screenings.”
We’re not sure who the “you” is in that last quote. If he means Haenel, she probably went to Cannes to support the female-led film she starred in. If Frémaux means the press, well, it’s their literal job to be there. If he means the editorial “you,” surely he’s capable of understanding that some people would shell out a large chunk of money to see the spectacle of Cannes firsthand, but that doesn’t preclude them from realizing once they’re inside that the festival still celebrates and shields problematic artists.
Aren’t the French familiar with the concept of buyer’s remorse?