“François Truffaut is not exempt from the list of filmmakers who have abused women”, believes Macha Méril

“All the actresses, including me, have been bothered by producers, agents, directors. » Macha Méril pulls no punches in an interview with Le Parisien, given on the occasion of the launch of the Another Russia film festival. The 83-year-old actress spoke out about the movement

In the world of entertainment, actresses “have had to suffer from men,” she says. “And me… You know, François Truffaut, so respected, is not exempt from the list of filmmakers who have abused women for not very honest purposes. It wasn't blue-white. » The actress, who did not wish to go public, still provided a few details. “I don’t want to make public what happened to me with him when I was a young actress. And defenseless. I had played in a film by Godard, with whom he had a falling out to death. He had to get the actress from her. These power games must stop (…) We must give women the tools to defend themselves, and not promise them: If you do that, I will give you other roles. This is exploitation. »

Guest on the show C à vous, the actress in the film A Married Woman (1964) by Jean-Luc Godard thinks “that there are many directors who use their power because we are fascinated by the camera and by the man behind it. He can do what he wants, he can condition our existence, especially when we are 20 years old. »

During the show, Macha Méril once again returned to her relationship with one of the fathers of the New Wave. “I took a little tour with François Truffaut. We had a little story that didn't last because he played a trick on me that I can't really tell you because it involves other people. I think François had an affair with all the actresses in all his films. He was not a great lover. A great lover is someone who honors the body of his partner and who expresses a desire. Him, if he had not been a director, he would not have had all these beautiful women in his arms (…) It’s not good, it’s ugly,” she judges. “I don’t want to put the dead on trial but we can also go back up the chain and realize that none of them were white and blue,” she adds.

The committed actress therefore shares Judith Godrèche’s fight. According to her, the current liberation of speech is “extraordinary, women are no longer the same”. Macha Méril did not fail to point out that the fight is not recent: “It is we who changed the world. This whole new generation does not realize the contribution that my generation has made. The pill is the big date. When women owned their bodies, it changed the world. »