cannes 2017

Jessica Chastain Found the Depiction of Women in This Year’s Cannes Selection ‘Quite Disturbing’

Looks like you and Jessica Chastain have at least one thing in common this Memorial Day weekend: You both recently watched 20 movies practically in a row. Like Jessica Chastain, did you also start to notice a “disturbing” trend in how women are depicted in film? While reflecting at the end of this year’s Cannes, the actress and festival jury member was candid about the problem she saw emerge over ten days of screenings. “This is the first time I’ve watched 20 films in 10 days, and I love movies and the one thing I really took away from this experience is how the world views women,” Chastain said at a press conference following Sofia Coppola’s Best Director win for The Beguiled. “It was quite disturbing to me, to be honest. There are some exceptions, I will say. For the most part, I was surprised by the representation of female characters on screen in these films.” Selma director Ava DuVernay became one of many filmmakers and fans who found themselves nodding in agreement at the actress’s comments once video of the conference made its way to social media. Concluded Chastain, “I do hope that when we include more female storytellers, we will have more of the women that I recognize in my day-to-day life. Ones that are proactive, that have their own agencies. They just don’t react to the men around them. They have their own point-of-view.”

Jessica Chastain Disturbed by Depiction of Women at Cannes