Natalie Portman has called out the double standards on how women are “expected to behave” at the Cannes Film Festival.
The 41-year-old actress says there are “different ways we as women” are expected to “look and behave” compared to their male counterparts at the glitzy French Riviera event.
Speaking at a press conference at the star-studded film festival for her movie “May December”, she said: “The whole film is so much about performance and the different roles we play in different environments, for different people, for ourselves, even.”
Which, she admits, is “something I’m definitely curious about and interested in.”
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Referring to the festival itself, she said: “This aspect of, even here – the different ways we as women are expected to behave at this festival even compared to men.
“How we’re supposed to look, how we’re supposed to carry ourselves.”
She said: “The expectations are different on you all the time and it affects how you behave, whether you’re buying into it, whether you’re rejecting it or whether you’re doing something in between.
“You’re definitely defined by the social structures upon you.”
Portman has admitted she is “really heartbroken” over the end of the Time’s Up organisation.
The “Star Wars” actress was a key figure in the early days of the non-profit company – which offered financial support to victims of sexual misconduct – when it launched in 2018. She was devastated when it was revealed in January, that it was ceasing operations, months after it was rocked by revelations that leadership figures had connections with Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor who had been accused of sexual harassment.
Portman thinks it is unfair that mistakes are viewed as “deadly” for activism and believes the world should acknowledge things aren’t always black and white.
She said to “The Hollywood Reporter”: “It was really, really heartbreaking that Time’s Up dissipated the way it did. I think a lot of people made mistakes, but mistakes are deadly for activism.
“You have to be so perfect in order to demand the change that you want to see, and I don’t know, maybe acknowledging all our imperfection as humans and saying that people can do something wrong and also be good at something else, having a little bit more shades of grey, might actually let us get to more progress.”
