Tarantino was surprised when asked why Margot Robbie did not speak much in Once Upon A Time … in Hollywood

Since the movie was first announced, the question of how much the ninth picture of Quentin Tarantino, Once upon a time … in Hollywood, was actually "about" Sharon Tate, and his death at the hands of the Manson family in 1969. Tarantino explained early on that Tate (played by Margot Robbie) would be a character in the film, and initially went up to to try to launch the film on the anniversary of his death title. (This tribute … particular? … Fortunately did not hold up.) Even at the moment, while critics react to the premiere of the film this week in Cannes, the insistence of Tarantino on the atrocious decor makes it clear to what extent the life and death of Tate hide his "lair". A film about two half-washed actors who marvel around the 1960s, or about the extent to which his murder is at the center of the narrative, or rather about just creating a mood.

One thing is definitely less ambiguous however: Tarantino no longer seems to want to be questioned about the relationship of his films with their female characters. By Variety, the director fired back at a reporter who was questioning Robbie's lack of dialogue in the film – despite his dominance – with a slips at best, "I reject your hypothesis". Robbie was kind enough to take over the diplomatic fad, replacing Tarantino noting that "I think the moments I had on screen gave the opportunity to pay tribute to Sharon and his lightness. I do not think the goal was to go further. "(Tarantino also declined to ask a question about the film's" rage against women ", leaving co-star Brad Pitt Hollywood is actually "a rage against a loss of innocence" instead.)

This is not the first time that Tarantino's films have gone bad (but also upset, intimately filmed) in their treatment of women; some critics had a lot of trouble with his latest movie, The Hateful Eight, and his attitudes towards his only female (main) character. And all that went down before at the dawn of the #MeToo movement, during which Tarantino acknowledged that he knew "enough" about the details of the alleged actions of his long-time benefactor, Harvey Weinstein, against women, that he should have said or done something to bring them to light or prevent them, and was called by his former friend and star Uma Thurman for putting his safety at risk on the set of Kill Bill Vol. 2.

Once upon a time is currently collecting good reviews for Tarantino, including from our own A. A. Dowd, who termed it "funky, unusual and sporadically sublime". (He also noted that, even though Robbie's Tbie is definitely a secondary character in the film, he provides some of his most moving moments, though largely dumb,). The conversation around the film – and the fact that its attitudes towards its female characters lead to censorship or praise from the public – will inevitably change and evolve as more people get the chance to see it. In the meantime, the question of whether Tarantino will be able to answer such criticisms is not yet posed, but she does not present herself as an angry college science teacher.