“Words have indescribable power.” Based on the Women’s Foundation Speech Contest

“Free speech”. Thanks to the #MeToo movement, the phrase has grown significantly over the past five years. Books, series, films, conferences, debates are entirely devoted to it, insisting on the political, social and symbolic need to offer a forum to those, and especially to those who were previously unheard or little heard. Director Sarah Polley has made it the sole focus Talking women (Women speak). Based on the novel by Miriam Toews, based on a true story, her film depicts women in a religious community who, aware of being drugged and raped in their sleep, gather in a haystack to debate and make choices; forgive? Stay and fight for change? Quit and start over? “In a world where all forms of difference of opinion are atomized, I think it’s important to show again what sharing can be like. Remember, it can be difficult, stressful and scary, but that’s no reason to avoid it,” comments producer Dede Gardner. Forgiveness, faith, power mechanisms, trauma, healing, guilt and self-affirmation are thus discussed for two hours by women of different generations. They present many perceptions of the world in an almost unique environment, interpreted by actresses of the moment: Claire Foy, Rooney Mara or Frances McDormand, one of the first to publicly defend inclusion clauses in Hollywood contracts.

In the video, Talking womenBy Sarah Polley with Claire Foy, trailer

Questioning sexism

The reaction in Paris on February 13 is immediate, the ceremony is almost identical. The Women’s Foundation is giving speeches that evening to eight nominees for the sixth edition of its Eloquence Contest. Competitors, and not rivals, to avoid any notion of competition, are lawyers, activists, students, association leaders, and women’s issues. The only man on stage at the Theater de l’Odéon, director Siku Niakate wonders about the legitimacy of his voice in this debate. Blandine Metayer, a dedicated actress and author, passionately questions ageism and sexism in artistic and professional circles. Bertil Carew, the youngest of 20, pays tribute to “marriage” as Ukrainian lawyer and gypsy Anina Siuchou warns her daughter of the dangers that await her in a well-crafted feminist tale. Speeches are expressed, clear, direct. In short, compelling. “Rhetoric is the purest, the most beautiful, the most powerful and the most persuasive weapon,” says writer Camille Kushner, a member of the jury. It’s the one that wins over crowds the best.”

Speaking in other people’s words allowed me to find my place, and today I use mine to give a voice to those who don’t have one.

Rukiata Ouedraogo

That evening, the slogan of the Iranian revolution, “Woman. Life Freedom,” so goes the Odéon enclosure, chanted by the entire public at the urging of rival Sudeh Rad, a militant queer feminist Franco-Iranian. Through her association Spectrum, she tries to give voice to the invisible, like Rukiata Ouedraogo, an actress and columnist at France Inter, who won the competition favorite in 2022. “Words have indescribable power. They literally changed my life. I did not speak for a long time, because in my country, Burkina Faso, women are not allowed to speak. I learned French when I got here, but quickly got quiet because people made fun of my accent. I was ashamed until the theater released me. Speaking in other people’s words allowed me to find my place, and today I use mine to give a voice to those who don’t have one.

Develop the art of listening

But we still need to listen, listen. Sometimes a challenge. Gwenola Jolie-Coz, the first woman to preside over the Court of Appeal in Poitiers, as well as a member of the competition’s jury, quickly realized a way to raise her voice in the judicial system by taking on responsibilities. One of his goals. To develop the institute for combating violence against women. When he first uses the term femicide in a speech to a school audience in Pontoise in September 2019, the impact is immediate. “All my colleagues told me that this illegal term has no place. Obviously, I chose it on purpose, realizing its incredible driving power. Moreover, although it is not yet in the criminal code, everything has changed since we were finally able to apply it in the judicial system.

Thus, skillfully expressed words can stop institutions in their tracks or challenge new issues. “In my shows, I have an embodied, less theoretical way of raising the issue of women,” explains Nora Hamzawi, Mistress of Ceremonies during the elocution contest. “In today’s society, it is difficult to find the right tone to talk about these topics. I am amazed at the number of candidates whose speeches have come to me questioning things that I had not questioned myself enough about. The way Emma Angelelli evoked menstrual irregularity in her health talk marked her out, as did Anna Roy, the midwife, who invites us all to be gentler with one another. “Women’s freedom is threatened by the judgment that weighs on them, body, heart, head and life. Judgment is everywhere, everywhere, individual and collective […]. It is urgent to love women for who they are,” she concluded before accepting the Giselle-Halimi Grand Prize for this publication.

That evening, his words and those of others will be heard, greeted and applauded. But what are they worth without action? Are they just hideouts? “They are not enough, that’s for sure, according to Gwenola Joly-Coz, also the author of the book: women of justice. But it is necessary to grind them down, to observe them, to think about them, in order to act later. In my work, for example, you are the best judge when you have integrated concepts, including semantics.” Evoking the difficulty of believing women who are victims of violence in his text, criminal lawyer Negar Haeri will say that evening: “The art of listening precedes the art of telling.”

Talking womenBy Sarah Polley, released March 8. women of justice, Gwenola Joly-Coz, Enrick B. Editions, 180 p. fondationdesfemmes.org Read also the interview with Julie Gaye on p. 77.