Marion Cotillard elicited groans from feminists everywhere this week when she told Porter Magazine that feminism does not have a place in the film industry.
The French actress, whose new film "Macbeth" premiered at Cannes this year, expressed discomfort with the ongoing conversation about gender equality in Hollywood.
"Filmmaking is not about gender," Cotillard said. "You cannot ask a president in a film festival like Cannes to have, like, five movies directed by women and five by men."
While no one is asking organizers at Cannes to program an equal number of films made by men and women, the international fest has come under scrutiny failing to represent female directors. In 2012, of the 22 films in competition for the Palme d'Or, none were directed by women. And at Cannes 2015, only two women directors were in the main competition.
Despite these inequalities, Cotillard went on to say that she doesn't identify with feminism, and believes feminism creates a separation between men and women.
"I don’t qualify myself as a feminist. We need to fight for women’s rights, but I don’t want to separate women from men."
She added, "We’re separated already but we’re not made the same and it’s the difference that creates this energy in creation and love. Sometimes in the word feminism there is too much separation."
Cotillard did not, however, address the separation created by the fact that only 1.9 percent of the top grossing films from 2007-2014 were directed by women, with women in only 31.2 percent speaking roles, 23 percent of lead roles protagonists, and 17 percent of behind-the-scenes positions.
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