Roman Polanski’s win at French César Awards sparks riots in Paris

By Alma Fabiani

Updated May 18, 2020 at 05:09 PM

Reading time: 2 minutes

This weekend, during the 45th César Awards (France’s equivalent to the Oscars) famous movie director Roman Polanski won the César for best director for the movie An Officer and a Spy. This resulted in people from the film industry leaving the room in protest and, subsequently, riots in Paris.

To many, Polanski, who had previously been accused of drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977, pleaded guilty to the ‘lesser offence’ of unlawful sex with a minor in 1978 to then fled from his US sentencing.This is just another reminder of how ‘separating the art from the artist’ doesn’t always work. His nomination and win at the César Awards caused an uproar both in the movie industry and in the streets of Paris, sending a clear message: French women are finally ready to speak up about sexual abuse and join the #MeToo movement.

Only last week, Harvey Weinstein was convicted of rape during his trial in New York. After hearing the news, many hailed the courage of the victims who had spoken out—it felt like a victory for the #MeToo movement and every woman, one that we were all quick to celebrate. But that didn’t last for long.

At the end of January, the César nominations were announced, a month before the ceremony, and caused more than 200 members of the film industry and French feminist groups to call for “profound reform” of the Césars academy. Two weeks before the awards, the entire leadership board collectively resigned—but the nominations didn’t change. This news came out after the board complained about the voting membership and its “elitist and closed” system in which they have “no voice.” Just after that, producer Margaret Menegoz was named as the academy’s interim president, which represented a well-needed change for the César Awards.

But this still wasn’t enough change for feminist organisations who decided to protest against Polanski’s nominations on the night of the awards just outside the venue, trying to pull down safety barriers to get access to the red carpet and storm the theatre. Protesters waved signs that read: “Shame on an industry that protects rapists,” and chanted “lock-up Polanski.” Local newspapers reported that the French police ended up firing tear gas on the crowd in order to stop them from entering the venue.

Roman-Polanski-César-riots

The series of events unfolded despite the French-Polish filmmaker announcing in a statement the night before that he would not be attending the ceremony, which didn’t seem to ease the controversy. An Officer and a Spy’s producer Alain Goldman told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) that he and the film’s team had decided not to attend amid “an escalation of inappropriate and violent language and behaviour.”

When Polanski’s name was announced as the winner of the best director award, very few people applauded, but only a few decided to leave the room. Among them was Adèle Haenel, one of France’s most prominent actresses who revealed at the beginning of this year that she had suffered from sexual abuse in the French film industry. As the first one to leave the room, waving her arms in disgust while mouthing the word “shame” and shouting “bravo, paedophilia” in the venue’s hall, she strongly highlighted the need for the #MeToo movement to keep on living. In an interview with The New York Times last month, Haenel said that “France ‘missed the boat’ on #MeToo” and it certainly looks like it did.

In this specific case, is it really possible for people, especially women, to separate the art from the artist? Wouldn’t that be forgetting what Polanski did, to celebrate his work and therefore imply that rape is somehow acceptable under ‘certain circumstances’? Has everyone already forgotten the other accusations of sexual assault he faced? In November 2019, after Haenel became the first high-profile actress to speak out over abuse in France’s movie business, actress, model and photographer Valentine Monnier accused Polanski of raping her in 1975, when she was 18, in a ski chalet in Switzerland, which he denied.

In the wake of these accounts, other French women came forward and highlighted abuse in the film and literature industries. France seems to finally be waking up, and women—from the movie industry, the sports industry and academia—are already protesting. This uproar sparked riots in the streets of Paris, and hopefully, this is only the beginning.

Keep On Reading

By Charlie Sawyer

Man partied for four days unaware he had been shot in the head

By Abby Amoakuh

Controversial video chat site Omegle shuts down after mounting child abuse allegations

By Charlie Sawyer

Influencer claims if you don’t tattoo your boyfriend’s name on your forehead, you don’t love him

By Abby Amoakuh

Jenna Ortega exits Scream franchise following firing of Melissa Barrera over Palestine comments

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

Shocking last words of young vape addict before he went into coma

By Charlie Sawyer

What is a glizzy? Breaking down the mysterious term taking over TikTok

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

Influencer Chiara Ferragni issues apology amid €1M fine for misleading charity Christmas cake sale

By Charlie Sawyer

2023 was Jeremy Allen White’s year. Why? Because being committed to the job is sexy

By Abby Amoakuh

Mainstream media’s criticism of 9 to 5 girl is proof that boomers will always be out to get gen Z

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

North West’s performance with Kanye proves that 2024 is going to be her big year

By Charlie Sawyer

Confessions of a 15-year-old drama queen: digging up my old teenage diaries

By Charlie Sawyer

Florida plans to expand Ron DeSantis’ Don’t Say Gay law into workplaces and ban use of preferred pronouns

By Bianca Borissova

What role did Mormons, momfluencers and pre-teen girls play in the current Stanley Cup craze?

By Charlie Sawyer

British Museum attempts Roman Empire TikTok trend, fails miserably and gets called sexist

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

George Santos sues Jimmy Kimmel after taking distasteful jab at Amy Schumer’s appearance

By Alma Fabiani

Travis Scott caught spray painting over John McEnroe’s Hall of Fame plaque

By Fatou Ferraro Mboup

What is legal cocaine? And how is it now being incorporated into our food and drinks?

By Abby Amoakuh

Neuralink’s human implant success sparks fear for the future of society

By Alma Fabiani

Experts warn of a bed bugs epidemic heading towards the UK

By Abby Amoakuh

McDonald’s addresses impact of boycott related to Israel-Hamas war in new statement