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In 2009, Carole Roussopoulos, a feminist filmmaker,
began a documentary film, a few months before dying,
about her friend and "companera":
Delphine Seyrig.
This unfinished project was the starting point of this film.
It is time to present to you, Madam Minister,
a total misogynist in gastronomy:
the food columnist, Christian Guy.
I'd like his opinion:
Are woman better cooks than men?
No, women don't really cook.
They do the daily cooking but they don't really "cook".
KEEP CALM SISTERS! OUR SECRETARY WILL EXPLAIN...
MEN COOK FOR PROFIT WOMEN COOK FOR FREE
The best evidence is that there's never been a great chef
who was a woman,
and there's never been a great female food critic.
That can be explained in many ways.
Because being a great chef
is a lot of work, it's very difficult.
My problem with women cooks...
women cooking...
FOR FREE!
...on an everyday basis,
but we're not talking about
daily cooking...
- It's very tiring. - I agree.
INDIGESTIBLE? NOT FOR MASO!
They're not dedicated.
Madam Minister will reply.
THOUSANDS OF WOMEN ARE WAITING
You're right, women don't think.
They let the meat burn every day.
When you sit down for dinner, it's never good!
It's well known.
Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!
NO TV IMAGE IS WILLING
NOR CAPABLE OF EXPRESSING
WHO WE ARE. WE WILL TELL OUR STORY
THROUGH VIDEO
DELPHINE AND CAROLE
INSOUMUSES
So Delphine...
To earn a little extra money,
I used to organize video workshops
on Friday evenings, Saturdays and Sundays
for 200 francs, back then.
For a group of 6 women.
We had a small space in the 14th district,
rue Hippolyte-Maindron.
Two women knocked on the door,
wanting to participate in the workshop.
I agreed.
I asked their names.
They offered a down payment.
I said no, they could pay at the workshop.
So they came to the course the following weekend.
I saw the name "Delphine Seyrig" but I was so ignorant,
I had no idea who she was.
During the workshop, one of the students
was shocked... She said to me:
"Don't you know who she is?" I said: "No..."
She said: "Delphine Seyrig!" I said: "Yes."
She asked: "Don't you know who she is?" I said: "No!"
The fact that I didn't know
who she was
turned out to be
positive between us.
Because women were terrified by Delphine.
Let's go over the top, let's be completely unreasonable.
Ask for a dress
that's more sparkling, less commonplace.
A dress the colour of the moon. And we'll see.
Go at once.
Zoom in!
Open one diaphragm.
Go ahead, read.
Feminine.
Relating to women.
The feminine body.
Feminine grace.
Feminine charm.
See femininity.
Feminine intelligence.
The eternal feminine.
- Yeah. - Eternal feminine.
Check masculine.
Masculine.
Relating to men.
She's quite pretty but too masculine.
Masculine courage.
Delphine quickly understood how to use video in a way...
the subversive use of video.
We stayed...
We became friends
after the course.
And with Ioana and a few others, we started
working together.
We all have our reasons for working with video.
For me, it's mainly because I'm an actress
and I interpret other people's work.
I like to have my own form of expression
and say what I think about things,
or address issues that interest me.
Zoom in a bit more.
Wait...
The framing's changed.
Adjust the focus.
The light...
Zoom out, Delphine.
You're cutting her chin.
Delphine Seyrig, your career encompasses both theater and cinema.
Theater with Chekhov, Tourgueniev, Beckett, Pinter and Arrabal.
Cinema with Bunuel, Truffaut, but also women,
like Marguerite Duras, Chantal Akerman and Liliane de Kermadec.
You are considered an intellectual,
having played difficult avant-garde authors.
I think "intellectual" is inappropriate.
I'm not an intellectual.
I don't have a degree or diploma.
I've read "The Three Musketeers",
I read a lot of books in my youth,
but I don't spend my whole time reading,
writing or doing research into intellectual matters.
I'm an actress.
It's new that actors are now considered intellectuals.
I was never a cinephile.
I think that helped me
to not feel intimidated by great authors
who might have inhibited me.
It was never my intention to work in cinema.
I had never even heard of video.
I had been working for 3 years for a very sophisticated magazine:
Vogue.
There, I learned the beauty of photo printing,
working with paper, and I acquired discipline.
After 3 years, I got fired for very unfair reasons.
That day, I left in tears.
I was 24.
All I had was my high school diploma
but no other degree. My pockets were empty.
Quite by chance,
I met Paul Roussopoulos and Jean Genet,
who were having lunch together.
Genet immediately asked me if I had been given a redundancy check.
He took the check and said to me:
"From now on, you'll be a free woman. You'll no longer have a boss".
It seemed like an unachievable dream.
He told me a revolutionary machine had just come out.
All three of us went to the boulevard Sebastopol,
we bought the second portable video camera sold in France.
Jean-Luc Godard bought the first one 2 weeks before.
Everybody thought this machine was miraculous.
Back then, I used to say
Mr and Mrs Sony created a machine to give a voice
to the people directly involved.
What struck me was that the people directly affected never had a say.
Somebody else always spoke for them:
specialists who spoke on their behalf, trade-unionists, and so on.
Many people, especially women, never spoke for themselves.
I realized when I was very young
that when women were given an opportunity
to talk about any given topic, they had very interesting things to say,
they didn't need someone else to speak for them.
We don't reproduce ourselves,
therefore we don't perpetuate the goods of the bourgeoisie.
We don't believe in inheritance.
That's over.
In any case, what the hetero-cops hold against us
is the fact that they made us,
they'll continue to make us,
give us kids,
and so on.
We don't agree with these morals.
We don't agree with society's core institution: the family.
And we don't agree with society as a whole.
Therefore, the only acceptable political stance
is a revolutionary stance.
I think that the point of vampire stories
is to dissuade young girls from going out alone at night.
They're meant to scare them.
But this way of terrifying people
can sometimes turn against those
who tell such stories
because they turn out to be rather appealing.
You end up asking yourself:
"What might happen if I do go out alone at night?"
"Will I meet one of those beings which are said to be so monstrous?"
To me, it's the same thing with vamps.
Men were warned about women who would wreck their lives,
split up their households.
They were all threats.
I want to work on things
that are closer to reality.
First of all,
I want to do things...
that are enriching for me.
I admire today's women's movements that are trying to change
the situation of women.
Whether it's about their work, their wages...
or another form of oppression:
the image they're expected to live up to and that's imposed upon them.
These are the issues I'm most interested in.
I think it's important
that women in cinema start talking about themselves.
Up until now, we have only seen women
as portrayed by men.
It's very important that women start portraying themselves.
MORE UNKNOWN THAN THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER - HIS WIFE -
One of the greatest actions
was the wreath of flowers for the unknown soldier's wife.
It was done with such humour,
it just seemed so appropriate.
That's what the movement was about.
They were so funny. Cathy Bernheim, Catherine Deudon, Christiane Rochefort...
They were extremely funny.
It changed my life.
Because the Women's Liberation Movement
changed the lives of all the women
who were part of it.
Period!
It's difficult to understand nowadays
but we just had great time together.
The meetings we had
didn't feel like meetings
where we felt obliged to go.
We met up with friends
we went dancing, ate out in restaurants, we laughed...
We made up slogans... not me personally...
we twisted song lyrics.
It was
a really intense, creative time.
The first time we had sex, I felt nothing, like with my husband.
He was sexually very potent. We had sex again and again.
The 6th time, I felt something I'd been trying to feel for 5 years.
I came. I cried.
He looked at me and said: "What's the matter?"
He was 20. He knew nothing.
I said: "I think I've come for the first time in my life."
"I didn't know women could come!"
He was 20.
"I can't believe it, Marie-Therese! I didn't know."
From that moment on,
and that's why I love him and can't be mad at him.
That guy kept going for 3 hours until I came.
He cuddled me, caressed me, kissed me non-stop,
and he kept it up nearly 3 hours during sex, holding himself back
until I came.
It's true, until I came.
Now it takes me 45 minutes, sometimes 30, to come.
Not many guys would wait half an hour.
I propose...
a contract.
A contract which is fair to both of us.
Since we both like what is exceptional...
l'll come close to you...
now.
We'll spend a few hours together.
And then, whatever happens, we'll never meet again.
Do you agree?
You asked me why I'm a feminist.
I'd now like to ask each of you
the origins of your feminism.
How about you, Delphine?
In 1969, I had read
writings by American women
who had got together.
I realized that similar groups of women also existed in Paris.
I went there to listen to them and mingle with them.
Spending time with those women, I realized
I was deeply moved when they discussed all kinds of topics.
Topics, which were previously discussed
behind closed doors, which were rather shameful,
had become noble topics.
All the issues we wanted to raise had become noble.
They were no longer considered lousy, trivial or shameful.
That's when I realized that what had emerged for me
from the May 1968 events was not
what I had imagined.
It had nothing to do with theatrical or cinematographic forms.
It was feminism.
From that moment, I followed
the movement.
I can honestly say I followed the movement.
It was a great revelation for me
to be able
to speak openly...
and understand the rebellion I went through as a teenager.
As an actress, it was priceless to me.
I understood why I couldn't accept certain things in cinema and theatre.
It also helped me
to see things more clearly, to have personal opinions
and not be impressed by the opinions
of my employers, who were all men,
whether they were directors or producers.
All that has enormously influenced my life
and has given me strength.
We all shared those magnificent moments,
powerful moments,
which all started with the Manifesto of the 343:
343 women who declared they'd had an abortion.
We risked criminal prosecution for revealing this.
All 343 of us.
Some famous women also signed the Manifesto,
revealing they had aborted.
The Manifesto was like a bomb
both in France and abroad. The bomb that officially
got feminism going.
It's the first big feminist demonstration
to take place in Paris since 1936.
About 2,000 women of all ages are marching
from Republique to Nation under the banner of the MLF:
the Woman's Liberation Movement.
No, it's plural, the Women's Liberation Movement!
Madam, what do you think of this?
What do you think of this?
I think they're right.
- They're right? - Yes.
Why aren't you marching with them?
I'm too old.
No! Just for a moment...
She's taking a picture of me!
- What's it all about? - For free and legal abortion.
And for information on contraception.
They shouldn't shag!
- You never shagged? - Yes!
But I was careful!
- There! - How?
I'm not going to teach you anything!
You're joking?
They shouldn't be so lazy. When it's over, you jump up!
Right? Now you're looking at me.
Don't film that!
Delphine Seyrig wants to intervene. She's been following the debate.
So now, a short intervention
by tonight's surprise guest, Delphine Seyrig.
I feel I'm not going be able to speak much
because...
I'm in a separate studio.
I'm going to speak my mind now
as I won't be able to later.
You spoke about trauma.
It's more traumatic...
and all women know...
to raise children than to have an abortion.
Every woman must have the choice to have an abortion!
You talked about vagabond sexuality.
I think the Minister spoke of vagabond sexuality.
I find that totally contemptuous!
Despicable!
Female sexuality is no more vagabond
than male sexuality.
Don't compare girls whose sexuality is vagabond
or not!
I find it absolutely revolting!
The term is inadmissible!
You talked about giving freedom,
and whether it's reasonable.
You are all men.
We're millions of women in France.
You're discussing if you should give them freedom!
If they're capable of taking responsibility!
In short,
we are just little, unintelligent beings,
like little dogs you take out for a walk.
We are denied self-governance.
Self-governance of our bodies.
Anne-Marie will lift up your head.
- I'm going to help you. - Wait.
Move the light.
- It's so funny. - Can you see it?
- It's very open. - Can you see it?
She can see it clearly.
So that's the cervix?
Normally, when you're not pregnant,
the cervix is longer, narrower, harder.
Much more closed,
in general.
Look... the blood is already coming out.
The blood and the placenta
are coming down into the cannula.
Having everything explained
is really interesting.
This way, we can suck out bigger pieces.
I feel it pulling.
It's because it must be attached to...
It will trigger little contractions in the uterus.
I said "militant".
Are you a militant?
I don't like it when people say that.
People always ask me if I'm still a militant.
I think that militants are people
who abandon
their way of living,
even their jobs,
to devote themselves entirely
to the development of a cause,
a liberation movement.
I'm not like that. I'm an actress.
But it's true that
I live for feminism,
it's part of my life
and I really need it.
Have you always been a feminist?
I read somewhere,
when you were young,
you didn't have the same idea of women.
That women should try to please,
that you wanted to please.
Yes, but I was already very aware.
It's a form of awareness
in women
who know they have to please,
as it's the truth.
They can only succeed in this world
if they are liked.
So I was aware of that.
But there was also a part of me
that was rebelling
against...
A part of me
clashed with the desire to be liked.
The result wasn't, and still isn't
quite harmonious.
But I think that...
being aware of the need to be liked
is very important for women
if we want to free ourselves
from that image and obligation.
We must first understand it.
- As an actress, are you afraid... - All the time!
- of the camera's eye? - All the time!
Does the pleasure lie in overcoming...
in taming this eye?
It's often the contrary. You must get used
to that gaze.
It isn't always pleasant.
It can be nerve-racking.
And I believe that,
even though actresses
love being photographed,
they also suffer from it.
Marie Dubois.
Delia Salvi.
The film that I have just finished
is an ambitious project I started 2 years ago.
It's called "Be Pretty and Shut up!"
I edited together a number of interviews I did
with other actresses.
I asked them the same questions I ask myself as an actress.
Be Pretty and Shut Up!
I'll never forget the first day I went to Warner Brothers
to do a...
a makeup test.
It was my first time in front of a camera.
They were working on my face.
When they'd finished, I didn't recognize myself.
It was like I was the result of a production line.
And also...
they wanted me to have my jaw broken by a dentist...
To have hollow cheeks.
I had lovely teenager cheeks.
Then: "With a nose like that,
you'll never play in a tragedy, because it can't be taken seriously!"
Recently, word came from high up that Jack Warner, the studio boss,
wanted me to wear false breasts.
He didn't like women with small breasts.
I was clearly just a commercial product
and they could do anything to make me more sellable,
as they were going to invest a lot of money in me.
It was terrific going to Hollywood with her.
Delphine was very nice in everyday life.
Very easy-going.
We both put on ten pounds
because we loved hamburgers.
We'd stop at drive-ins to eat a couple of cheeseburgers,
or a double cheese...
I wanted the camera
to move around.
But Delphine
always wanted to use a tripod...
and for me to film the women
like this. Frame 3/4,
frame 2/4,
without moving.
On the 5th day of shooting, in Malibu,
in Los Angeles,
I snapped.
I asked Delphine why she hadn't brought a tripod
instead of me.
"Use a tripod, press the button. You can do that yourself.
"Why bring me?"
I ran off in tears...
down onto the beach.
Delphine ran after me:
"Don't go that way. You'll drown!
"If you really want to leave, go that way!"
Of course, we talked it through.
I'll never forget what she said to me.
"Listen Carole, think about it.
"When they film the French President..."
- there was no potential female president at the time -
"They've figured out
"the best way to film him
"so that his message comes across
"in the most convincing way.
"So...
"I think it's impossible to listen properly
"if the camera keeps moving around.
"I want people to listen to these women
"who are being asked these kinds of questions for the first time."
I've played a nagging, Jewish wife,
a pioneer who gave birth alone,
a bad-tempered wife from the South,
I've played a farmer's barren wife.
Always those kinds of roles.
There are sometimes better roles, but they only go to a couple of stars.
Being a black woman, in the early days, I played a lot of maids.
There was nothing else for my black sisters.
Except if you were very black, then you could play a slave.
But I didn't do much of that because I wasn't black enough.
I would have packed my bags and left long ago.
I've always felt like that.
When I was small, I regretted not being a boy.
In the sense that, because...
what I was looking for in cinema was an excuse for living.
One of the reasons why I act as well as I do
is because I'm a woman.
It's because women are trained to seduce.
I don't know if I'd be as good if I were a man!
What can you do with a woman in her 40s, 50s or 60s?
She has no place in male fantasies.
So she's eliminated!
It's a show for men, made by men... then bye-bye!
The producers are men, the technicians are men,
the directors are men... most of them are men.
The press...
The press is mixed but there's still a majority of men.
The agents are men, managing us.
Those who give you a script, who give you advice, are men.
And the subjects they have
are also for men.
It was just the two of us filming: Carole and myself.
We were very close because we worked in the same field.
It was much closer than with a journalist.
We both knew what we were talking about.
It was a fascinating experience. It's a video
that I love tremendously.
We realized that the scenes between women that we played in
were rarely friendly.
Have you ever played scenes that showed friendship
or warm feelings between women?
No, I've never done that.
Never! Never! No, I haven't!
I think there's a change
that's been occurring in the last few years,
due to the Women's Movement.
Writers are embarrassed to use women
in the stereotyped roles of the past.
If women started writing, things would change.
I've talked to people like Truffaut, etc.
They say women end up scaring them.
They no longer understand women
with all these women's movements.
They no longer know how to write for us.
If you're both a feminist and an actress,
you have virtually no work
if you only accept parts
that give a feminist image of women.
You stop acting because such parts don't exist.
We need to take control of roles
we imagine and the things we know. More women need to write.
It must come from us.
I didn't know you existed.
Calcutta has become a form of hope for me.
Do you think it is your duty, as an actress,
to help women work in cinema?
I don't have much of a sense of duty.
I'm just interested in working with women.
This is the first time, except the film I shot with Marguerite
10 years ago.
It was her first film, made with a male co-director.
It didn't really feel like I was working with a woman.
I have only worked with men.
Last year, I suddenly got to work with 3 women.
It wasn't a choice. I accepted all three
because I was interested in the 3 scripts and the 3 women.
After 15 years, it was extraordinary to get to work with 3 women.
So working with women is new for me.
I've rarely had the chance.
Directors, such as Bergman,
have spent their lives making films about women.
When women will talk about themselves,
it will be so different.
When the same issues will be addressed by women,
such as prostitution,
it will be from an angle we haven't yet seen.
See you on Thursday.
Marguerite Duras, Chantal Akerman, Liliane de Kermadec.
These 3 directors have one thing in common:
they've all filmed Delphine Seyrig.
Delphine, could you tell us
if there's something specific
to female directors compared to male directors?
All three films by Liliane, Chantal and Marguerite
are very different.
But, as an actress,
when I talk about a female character
to a male director or a female director,
it's obviously quite different.
With a female director,
we talk about
a person of the same gender.
I imagine that, just as male actors
are always with male directors,
when they talk about their character, they're on common ground.
An actress can't often talk about that with another woman.
I think cinema made by women is "marginal".
And marginal cinema is, by definition, political.
That's true.
It's impossible to compare a film by Mr Verneuil
and a film by Liliane de Kermadec.
The financial means,
starting from the budget
that's available, make the film political.
I made this film to give
a cinematographic existence to such gestures.
I wrote it entirely with Delphine in mind.
It was so extraordinary as she was nothing like the character.
She was a great lady.
Had it been someone we're used to seeing making the bed, washing up,
the character would be invisible.
Just like men no longer see their wives when they do the dishes.
So I needed someone we weren't used to seeing doing the dishes.
Delphine was perfect for the role.
As the gestures became visible.
Why is it important to you to show a woman's daily life?
There are already enough
crazy love stories
that hardly ever happen.
Cinema has shown an image of women from a male perspective that is completely fake.
And even when they try to show a woman's daily life,
they portray a fantasized daily life.
I probably do too.
The first General Meeting of Prostitution has been disappointing.
Although it was a public event,
journalists weren't allowed to take pictures.
In an attempt to attract more attention,
it was announced that Jane Fonda
Annie Girardot, Jeanne Moreau and several writers would be present.
But only Delphine Seyrig showed up.
I am a woman. How can I not feel concerned?
Prostitution only exists
because a certain type of sexuality allows it to exist.
If not, it wouldn't exist.
The first General Meeting of Prostitution is open.
We are here for three things:
to say no to the prison sentences inflicted upon us,
to say no to abusive police repression,
and to say no to the reopening of brothels.
Delphine was wonderful.
She'd come and join us, and bought us video tapes.
She had a bit more money than us.
She was very supportive of such struggles.
Prostitutes in Lyon had occupied Saint-Nizier Church.
I felt I had to go and meet them.
We struggled to get into the church.
The prostitutes didn't trust us.
They didn't know us.
We had our video camera and I explained that
Since they couldn't leave the church
as they'd be arrested
by the police.
I suggested that
we film them every morning inside the church.
Then they could watch the footage and if there were things they didn't like
they could erase them directly, as we didn't have any editing equipment.
We suggested installing TV sets outside
because as they couldn't go out, their message wasn't being relayed.
That way, they could speak through these boxes.
They grasped our idea quickly.
Well, quickly... After a 2-hour discussion.
So people heard the prostitutes in front of the church.
It was incredible. Cars braked, there were accidents.
The sound was excellent it was very loud.
We want all women, even if they aren't prostitutes,
to come to the churches occupied by prostitutes
and help them. We need their help.
This is not about being prostitutes
but about being women.
Françoise Giroud refuses to take care of us
because she doesn't think of us as women.
To her, we are prostitutes, whores, nothing.
Somebody must intervene and tell us who is representing us.
We won't leave until we obtain results.
I am a woman and a mother.
Today, we pay taxes
but we don't have any rights.
Video provided immediacy and a certain lightness.
We were completely uninhibited from the beginning
thanks to these tapes that were so cheap.
Above all, we could immediately see what we'd filmed.
That reassured a lot of the women.
Back then, women were insecure, unlike today's young women.
In my day, we could perfectly handle an iron.
But faced with a car, an engine... it all seemed extremely complicated.
For all those insecure people...
those insecure in front of the camera, us insecure behind it,
we could discuss things on the spot.
Those women quickly realized that video was a means to tell their story.
I call them "the unknown that made history".
They became the pioneers of causes they defended.
As they defended them very well,
I'd say, in all modesty, that they become heroines.
I'm going to talk to you about women's condition at the LIP factory.
But I'll replace the word "men" by the word "Whites"
and the word "women" by the word "Arabs".
So each time I say "Arabs" it means "women".
At LIP, half the workers are Whites, half are Arabs.
Naturally, the big bosses are Whites.
There are no Arab big bosses.
The big White bosses think, deliberate and talk.
We, Arabs, also think. I know because I'm an Arab.
We think.
The big White bosses can't know that we think,
as we never have the right to say what we think.
Regarding Arabs' issues, it's true, we have specific Arab problems.
Whites can't understand, it bothers them.
For instance, we don't have the same diseases.
These Arabs, they have a fussy belly.
The great white leaders, and in fact all Whites, when they are ill,
it's considered a noble illness, real stuff, a serious problem.
Not like these Arabs always complaining, always bothering.
At LIP, a women's group was soon created,
disassociated from the unions.
They understood early on
that the trade unionists, the men, didn't let them speak.
But as soon as
they had the power of TV, people shut up and listened to them.
No one could cut their mike.
So they started to learn how to film. I taught them how.
They came to Paris, where we had a small workshop in the 14th district.
We edited short films with them. It was extraordinary, as there was
six hours of LIP footage.
People and workers went all over France
to talk about their struggle and show the video tapes.
In all these video groups, women had a very important role.
My analysis is that video had no school,
no past, no history.
Men hadn't taken control over it.
It was a new medium
which hadn't been colonized by men and their power.
3 steps forward
3 steps back
3 steps to the side
3 steps to the other side
Men don't know what to do To put us back in step
Now they liberate us How generous of them!
They mention us in their forums They're cooking us tiny reforms
3 steps forward
3 steps back
3 steps to the side
3 steps to the other side
MASO AND MISO GO BOATING
I want to point out something remarkable...
Throughout this International Women's Year,
No Nobel Prize went to a woman!
Not one French literary prize was awarded to a woman!
I find that excellent. WHAT?
The less we talk about women the better?
No! Women have been proving their talent for years in the literary world.
This program was broadcast in December 1975.
It was called "Phew, Women's Year is Over!"
Pivot presented the program and had invited Françoise Giroud,
who was Minister of Women's Affairs at the time.
We recorded the program
and decided to answer back by editing in our comments.
Interviewed by Anne Sinclair, 3 unmitigated radio and TV misogynists:
President Marcel Jullian, Pierre Bellemare and Jacques Martin.
- There are no women on your staff? Why? - There are women.
- But never center stage. - No...
It's very difficult to find female presenters.
You're a fine example, my dear. But it's difficult.
HAVE YOU LOOKED IN THE GARBAGE?
- Are you afraid they'll upstage you? - No!
When we look at cinema admission statistics,
a leading man still attracts more audience than a leading woman.
Except with films starring Miss Bardot.
And basically, a man's career is longer.
LONGER AND HARDER Sigmund Freud
What practical advice would you give to women...
Who are married to a misogynist? I think they like it.
WARNING TO BATTERED WOMEN!
When we get married, we make a choice.
We all recognize misogynists!
Maybe some women love misogynists.
I'm very tolerant.
It's best to let people live their own lives.
They say misogynists are the best lovers. Is it true?
I don't keep company with them so I can't answer.
Giroud found this funny. In your opinion, is she:
Seductress, subservient, mundane, battered, maso(chist), miso(gynist),
Secretary of Women's or Male affairs, all at the same time, nothing at all.
We responded with humour but we were very angry.
The only way we could respond,
and I think it's everyone's dream to be able to respond to TV,
by making a public statement and showing it to others.
So lots of people could interrupt Delphine Seyrig right now
- and disrupt her message. - They could!
Everybody should be able to respond.
Louis Feraud, a star of haute couture!
- That's unexpected! - You'll see.
I thought he, on the contrary, was...
- That's unexpected! - You'll see.
I thought he, on the contrary, was...
Hush!
Is it difficult to work with women all the time?
I think so. I think so...
This is why, in my profession,
not many guys like women.
WHO LOVE / FUCK WOMEN
Apart from... me.
They are careful when they should be careless.
They are sloppy when they should be dressy.
They are inconsistent when they should be consistent.
And vice versa.
They are tender when they should be tough.
And tough when they should be cunning.
They are incomprehensible.
I'm a man surrounded by women but I criticize them
as I can't understand them.
WARNING
WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SHOCK
OUR SECRETARY'S REPLY COULD CAUSE TO SENSITIVE EARS...
That's not misogynistic!
- No? - No.
It's the language of a man who loves women.
So everything's just fine.
Everything's just fine, Madam Minister.
Everything's just fine!
WE DON'T AIM TO COMMENT ON
THE PERSON FRANCOISE GIROUD IS. OR TO KNOW IF
ANOTHER WOMAN COULD HAVE DONE BETTER OR WORSE IN HER POSITION.
OUR AIM IS TO SHOW THAT NO WOMAN CAN REPRESENT
OTHER WOMEN IN A PATRIARCHAL GOVERNMENT OF ANY KIND.
SHE CAN ONLY SYMBOLIZE WOMEN'S CONDITION
THAT OSCILLATES BETWEEN THE NEED TO PLEASE
(FEMINIZATION = MASO)
AND THE DESIRE TO GAIN POWER
(MASCULINIZATION = MISO)
AS FOR THE REFORMS PROPOSED BY F. GIROUD
THEY CAN BE DIRECTLY PROPOSED BY THE RELEVANT MINISTRIES
(LABOR, HEALTH, JUSTICE, ETC...)
We showed the film for about a month.
It was the first time a video screening was organized in a cinema in Paris.
Paul figured it all out.
We took out 9 seats,
replaced them with 9 TV sets, rented from the FNAC shop.
It was all put together with cables weaving everywhere.
The men were really efficient.
The downstairs screening room of the Entrepot was fully equipped.
It was extraordinary.
There were articles in the Nouvel Observateur, in Liberation...
Françoise Giroud sent her cabinet director
to ask us what it would take to stop showing the film.
She didn't know who she was dealing with.
Delphine taught me how to be irreverent.
For Delphine,
the more important someone was,
the more she wanted to attack.
S.C.U.M. MANIFESTO
The edition of this text is out of print
in English as well as in its French translation.
That's why we felt the need to reproduce an excerpt.
Paris, August 76. Delphine and Carole.
SCUM Manifesto
by Valerie Solanas.
1967
Life in this society
being, at best, an utter bore
and no aspect of society being at all relevant to women,
there remains for civic-minded,
responsible,
thrill-seeking females
only to overthrow the government,
eliminate the money system,
institute complete automation
and destroy the male sex.
When I listen to that, I wonder how we dared do it?
We wanted that book to be republished.
But how?
Delphine could have read the text in front of the camera.
She didn't want to,
as it could have been misinterpreted, due to her image.
I don't remember how we got the idea.
One Sunday, we met at Delphine's flat in Place des Vosges.
We took a table, and thought that using a typewriter
would allow us to go slowly,
articulate better and find the right rhythm.
What's surprising, but it would have been the same any other day,
is that the daily TV news is live
and it's terrifying.
But it's just as terrifying today as it was back then.
But the parallel
between the news and the book is very powerful.
...the American police in the zone between the Koreas.
That is what the British Sunday Times reports.
Fed up with war!
Over 20,000 women and children demonstrated in Belfast
for peace in Northern Ireland.
It was the biggest demonstration for peace ever organized in Belfast.
Catholic and Protestant women walked side by side
to ask men to stop the deadly fights.
The Irish Republican Army, IRA, was very embarrassed.
They used the terms "disgusting collaborators and opportunists"
to define the 20,000 peaceful Catholics and Protestants.
Being an incomplete female, the male spends his life
attempting to complete himself to become female.
He attempts to do this by constantly seeking out, fraternizing with,
trying to live through, and fuse with the female,
and by claiming as his own all female characteristics:
emotional strength and independence,
forcefulness, dynamism, decisiveness, coolness,
objectivity, assertiveness, courage, integrity, vitality
intensity, depth of character, grooviness,
and projecting onto women all male traits:
vanity, frivolity, triviality, weakness.
It should be said, though, that the male has
one glaring area of superiority over the female: public relations.
He has done a brilliant job of convincing millions of women
that men are women and women are men.
...70 injured yesterday in Beirut. All civilians...
I think it's a superb text to read.
And it's very provocative, of course.
It's impossible to turn those words into deeds
but its thought-provoking potential is extremely important.
Dear child, it would be a great mistake to marry your father.
You must gently discourage him.
But I love him.
I know you love him.
But I've already told you,
you're confusing different kinds of love.
I must give him an answer tomorrow.
The situation calls for great attention
Children do not marry their parents, my child
You love your father, and I understand
But whatever your reasons or feelings may be
Boys do not marry their mothers, my child
And it is the tradition
In every condition
For lawmakers to decree
That girls do not marry their daddies
Delphine Seyrig, you told a fellow journalist from France Soir
that French cinema is afraid of you. It was the title.
- People are afraid of women who speak out - And who think?
Of what they have on their minds. - Every woman thinks.
But few have the opportunity to say what they think.
When they have that opportunity,
people are afraid of them because they're not used to it.
They think they lack femininity, that they aren't real women.
It's all underlying fear.
People are afraid of women who are strong.
Many women's careers were destroyed.
It's difficult to understand that today.
You have to put it in the context of the 70's.
Many women's careers were destroyed
as a result of their feminist positions.
In Delphine's case, certain producers, like Toscan du Plantier,
not to name names...
Delphine was to have a role that had been written for her.
Toscan said: "I refuse to produce it if Delphine gets the main role."
That sort of thing... It was extremely violent.
Yves Montand also refused to work with her in a film.
For this program, I asked you
to name your personal pantheon
of the great men and women you admire.
But you said you hated all that.
Instead, you said you wanted to pay tribute to a group of women:
the English suffragettes from the beginning of the century.
The history of the women's movement has been silenced.
It's not something one learns at school.
The fight for elementary rights.
It's taught briefly, saying they were ridiculous.
Look! It's not ridiculous, it's magnificent!
They were called neurotic, hysterical.
As if what they had to say didn't make sense.
As if nobody listened to them.
There were thousands of them demonstrating on the streets.
And they fought in such a way!
We appear to be very tame compared to what they did.
They were sent to jail.
They went on hunger strikes.
They were force-fed.
Their fight was very violent and tragic.
Many women died in those struggles.
It's important to know that it's part of our past.
Many women are unaware of their history.
3 years ago, we created the Simone de Beauvoir Audiovisual Center.
Its aim is to preserve the memory
of all women's struggles that were filmed by other women.
All this footage is now archived
at the Simone de Beauvoir Audiovisual Center.
It wants to create collective memory so these things aren't forgotten.
So that women can identify
with these models of non-conformist women.
We have two activities.
The first is to collect all images
shot by men or women, concerning women,
or shot by women about all kinds of issues, filmed on video.
We function like a video library.
We have footage in 35mm, 16mm, video tapes,
as well as photos.
Priority was given to video material
from the early 70's that had started to deteriorate.
So far, we've saved the first generation of video footage.
Later, depending on the available time we have,
we'll work on older documents.
These video tapes, dating from the beginnings of video,
disintegrate and crumble into dust.
Then they stick to the machines.
I've had to throw away
all my rushes.
Restoring them was an inhumane task.
So everything that wasn't edited using IVC
is lost.
We all know about the problems of video conservation,
which calls for a lot of modesty, because
it all disappears.
The real radicals were there, with extraordinary banners.
I filmed everything. I filmed all the banners.
Unfortunately, I filmed in black and white.
They had pink nylon banners
with purple paint on them.
They used spray paint cans.
When women will start to fight
There'll be no more little chiefs, cops or bosses
To resist us
We find ourselves unemployed completely isolated
Because you can't clock in
400 francs a month how can we pay
The rent, the food, gas and electricity?
When women will start to fight
Delphine always had ideas for actions,
for films,
ideas for...
actions.
I'll always miss that about her, now that she's no longer here.
She was uninhibited, fast...
We didn't spend hours discussing
if we should do something or not, if it was politically correct...
If we wanted something, we just did it. Period!
And that's precious.
What does your feminism consist in?
Primarily, it's about communicating with other women.
The first thing is about listening to other women.
Then to express oneself.
I feel I really need that. I couldn't live
if I couldn't talk with other women about myself,
about them, and about all the other women.
IN MEMORY OF DELPHINE AND CAROLE