In an open letter published in the JDD wife of the controversial filmmaker – found guilty of misappropriation of a minor in 1977 – denounced the "intolerable hypocrisy" of the American Academy which proposed him Joining her ranks after writing off her husband
"The American Academy of Arts and Film Science invites me to join her, along with other actresses, in the name of a feminization that is otherwise necessary. Who can believe that I do not feel concerned by the equality of women and men? "Wrote Emmanuelle Seigner this July 8 in the Journal du Dimanche .
"How can I pretend to ignore that the Academy, a few weeks ago, kicked out my husband, Roman Polanski, to keep up with the times?"
Emmanuelle Seigner [19659005] In this open letter, the French actress announces she refuses to join the Academy of Oscars to protest against the exclusion by this organization of her husband, the director Roman Polanski. "Feminist, I have always been, but how can I pretend to ignore that the Academy, a few weeks ago, kicked out my husband, Roman Polanski, to satisfy the zeitgeist. The same Academy had awarded him the Oscar for best director for The Pianist in 2003. Curious amnesia! ", She continues.
» READ ALSO – Academy of Oscars Radie Roman Polanski and Bill Cosby
»READ ALSO – For Roman Polanski, the #MeToo movement is a" collective hysteria "
" This Academy probably thinks I'm a pretty up-and-coming actress, without character, to forget that she has been married for twenty-nine years with one of the greatest directors. I love him, he is my husband, the father of my children. He is rejected as an outcast and unseen academicians think I could "climb the steps of glory" behind his back? Unbearable hypocrisy! ", She denounces.
Following the Weinstein affair
Calling this proposal" insulting ", she claims to be" the only one able to testify to how much he (Polanski, Ed] regrets what happened forty years ago. "
Roman Polanski pleaded guilty in 1977 to the embezzlement of a minor for having an illegal relationship with a 13-year-old girl. At the end of an amicable agreement, more serious charges including the rape of a 13-year-old under the influence of narcotics were dropped. The governing council of the Academy announced on May 3 the expulsion of Polanski and the fallen comedian Bill Cosby, convicted of badual badault. The decision complied with the new code of conduct adopted by the prestigious institution, in the aftermath of the Harvey Weinstein affair.
"Roman is in no way this machismo caricature, a symptom of the evil that would ravage the cinema," concludes 52 years old actress. Following the deportation, Polanski's US lawyer, Harlan Braun, threatened to sue the Academy, ruling that she had failed to comply with the proceedings in the absence of a pre-hearing hearing.
Decades after the fact, the subject is still as sensitive, in France as in the United States. Last October, by deciding to dedicate the filmmaker to a retrospective, the Cinémathèque was undergoing the thunderbolt of feminist movements. Earlier in the year, Roman Polanski decided to withdraw from his position as president of the 42nd Cesar ceremony, after the outcry and calls for boycott caused by such an appointment.
