Bravo La Jeune Fille en Feu

Adèle forever. pic.twitter.com/Fhe9xSLxCK

— Portrait of a Lady on Fire (@Portrait_Movie) February 28, 2020

When they called Adèle Haenel a lady on fire, damn, did they ever mean it. This weekend the star of last year’s beyond gorgeous French film “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” stormed out of the César awards (France’s Oscars) when Roman Polanski won best director for his film “An Officer and A Spy.” She shouted “"Bravo la pédophilie!" (which, uh, needs no translation) as she left the ceremony and was joined by the film’s director Céline Sciamma and co-star Noemie Merlant.

fuck it "bravo la pédophilie" on loop pic.twitter.com/gbn6hydiJY

— morgan (@aIucarda) February 29, 2020

Haenel has been a vocal advocate of the #MeToo movement in France, where #MeToo has been stubbornly slow to catch on and often openly derided. She has been incredibly vocal about her own past sexual harassment at the hands of French director Christophe Ruggia. He started sexually harassing her at age 12. Let me repeat that, AT AGE 12.

Roman Polanski – who I have been railing about for well over a decade here at Surrenders – may be a great director, but he is a bad man. He is a bad man who is a convicted child rapist. As in when he was 43 years old, Roman Polanski raped a 13-year-old girl. He brought this 13-year-old girl to Jack Nicholson’s house with the promise of a photoshoot and instead gave her Quaaludes, got her drunk and then raped this 13-year-old girl repeatedly. Let me repeat that, A 13 YEAR OLD GIRL.

So, yeah, fuck the Césars for essentially saying, this man’s work is more important than a 13-year-old girl’s body. And while we’re at it, fuck the Oscars for rewarding him in 2002 with Best Director for “The Pianist.” A man’s so-called genius is not more important than a woman’s well-being. I mean, I guess “Rosemary’s Baby” was a good movie, but not more important than protecting a 13-year-old girl from rape.

And that, and every other time powerful men paid no consequences for sexually abusing woman, is the reason Adèle and her “Portrait” crew walked out. Adele’s vocal advocacy for a #MeToo movement in France has made her a folk hero of sorts, as it should be. And sparked protests against the Césars in the streets, as it it should be.

How tiresome it is that here we are in 2020 and it’s still considered pretty revolutionary to NOT WANT MEN TO RAPE AND SEXUALLY ASSAULT WOMEN AND FOR THOSE WHO DO TO FACE REAL CONSEQUENCES?

Brûler! Brûler! Brûler!