Sponsored message
Logged in as
Audience-funded nonprofit news
radio tower icon laist logo
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Subscribe
  • Listen Now Playing Listen

This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.

This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.

Arts & Entertainment

Repulsion: Roman Polanski Whines About The Pill's 'Masculinizing' Effect On Women

roman_polanski_cannes.jpg
Director Roman Polanski attends the 'La Venus A La Fourrure' Photocall during the 66th Annual Cannes Film Festival on May 25, 2013 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)

One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.

Roman Polanski, the brilliant filmmaker and also one of the last people on earth you want giving a lecture on gender relations, waxed nostalgic about the good old days before birth control at the premiere of his film "Venus in Fur."

Polanski described the film as a satire of sexism, so a reporter at Cannes asked Polanski how his views about women had changed over the years, according to AFP. He responded by lamenting the influence of birth control: "I think that the Pill has changed greatly the woman of our times, 'masculinizing' her..."

The same guy who was convicted of raping a 13-year-old decades ago called the leveling of the genders "purely idiotic." He said, "I think that now offering flowers to a lady becomes indecent, that's how I feel about it."

The film stars Polanski's wife Emmanuelle Seigner as an actress rehearsing an adaptation of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's 1870 novella, "Venus in Furs." Mathieu Amalric plays the theater director.

Polanski described the male character in his new film this way: "There's this macho element in his character which is really coming to pieces and that was quite enjoyable. Whatever people think and know about me, the ones that do know about me know that I am not this way."

Cannes seems to be a great place for old men to rehash their "old-fashioned" views about women, like how they aren't funny and they secretly want to be prostitutes.

Related:
No Cannes Do: Jerry Lewis Can't Name One Female Comedian He Likes

One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.

You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.

If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief

Make your tax-deductible donation today