Judith Godresh. “I feel like I have the energy of a kid who needs fixing”

“Has it been six months already?” When reminded of when he came out Icon of French cinema, the series he wrote and starred in, in which he recounted his teenage relationship with director Judith Godrech, forty years his senior. It seemed like time passed in the blink of an eye. Since then, the actress and director, who filed a complaint against Benoit Jacquet and Jacques Doillon, has defended the words of victims of sexual abuse. After an emotional performance at the Cesar ceremony, she continues her fight on the big screen Me tooshort film presented on May 15 at the Cannes Film Festival.

A guest speaker at Women in Motion, Kering’s program to highlight the women who shape today’s cultural world, the Frenchwoman spoke about her struggles, her hopes and her projects. Sincerely.

Future generations

Realize Me tooJudith Godresh collected 5000 testimonials in 15 days. And then he filmed more than a thousand men and women on a Parisian street, finally making their voices heard; In the short film, a young woman in a white dress walks through the crowd and dances. this is Tess Barthelemy, 19, the daughter of a director who “represents youth. The question I raise with this film is that I hope that one day when we ask young people if they have been abused, they will say no.

Be heard

Judith Godresh took her struggle to the National Assembly. On Thursday, May 2, MPs voted unanimously to set up a commission of inquiry to investigate “abuse and violence” in film, audiovisual, performing arts, fashion and advertising. A victory that he greeted with tears in his eyes in a skirt, and to which he returns more generally. “I have the impression that they listen to me better. When we are in action, we have an energy that comes from a long way back, perhaps from childhood. I feel like I have the energy of a child who needs fixing.”

There is still a long way to go, especially regarding the relationship between men and women. “There are men who need to deconstruct themselves, and we welcome them with open arms,” ​​she notes, even if she believes that “It’s not men. you need to hold hands, just like women don’t need that either.” He favors listening more than arguments. “Today there is no conversation, there is no dialogue, there is only conflict,” he regrets. “We express ourselves, then find out we’re angry at someone we don’t know.” Especially since his positions expose him to criticism more than ever. “Victims are expected to be perfect, infallible people. Those who don’t want something to change, waiting for you with a Kalashnikov, are following the wrong step.”

A whole world

Judith Godrech’s words, long suppressed, are remarkable in that they emerged thanks to the work of a creator, first of all a director. A move that took him some time to complete. “I always wondered if I was legitimate because the director’s place was someone else’s. And deep down, who was I to imagine that I, muse, muse, woman-child, child-woman, could claim to take the place of my father? Today, she doesn’t know if she’ll ever be in front of a camera again, admitting that her “desire to act is a difficult question” and that if the profession greeted her boldness after her performance at Cesars, it was “silence.” on the supply side. A situation that someone who has lived in the US for a long time analyzes as follows. “In France we put people in boxes. When we speak, we are simply activists. It seems we couldn’t accept that a woman is a whole world.” A world made of shadows and lights, wounds and healing. In Judith Godrech’s case, the universe in full expansion.