Cannes 2023: French director Catherine Corsini was too proud to use intimacy coach for Homecoming
At Cannes Film Festival, Catherine Corsini screened her controversial new film Homecoming, under fire for allegedly featuring sex scenes with minors involved.
Ah, what a Cannes! From ticketing glitches that kept even seasoned journalists and senior business reps out of the theatres, to controversies galore. If it was not Johnny Depp's arrogant remark about not needing Hollywood (his French movie, Jeanne du Barry opened the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in which he plays King Louis XV), French writer-director Catherine Corsini was accused of using minors in her competition entry, Homecoming, without getting proper approvals or using an intimacy director. As she and cast/crew walked up the Red Steps on May 17, one could sense her discomfort at facing dozens of photographers all clicking away.
She was charged with bad practices on the set relating to sexual scenes in which minor children were involved. There were also allegations against her of harassment and inappropriate behaviour on the movie set. These were denied by her, and yes, there is no trace of any sexual exploitation to be seen in Homecoming.
She had been a Cannes regular since the beginning of 2000, when she came with a political comedy, The Divide. In comparison, her latest, Homecoming is a subtle drama about a woman and her daughters returning home to Corsica after disastrous events earlier. The work begins in Corsica, where a young black woman is all set to leave for France with her two small daughters. It is then that she gets a bad news. Fifteen years later, she decides to go back home.
Corsini has used a lovely mix of regular actors and non-professionals, and the results are great.
Corsini told a press conference on May 18 that she was “too proud and pretentious to use intimacy coaches on the set of her Cannes competition title Homecoming”. She averred that “maybe I thought I’ve got 30, 35 years of experience, I can do things better than an intimacy coach.”
She said that next time she would ask more questions. “If we had intimacy coaches, for example, so that the actors could feel happy. These are very important issues and so I might call upon an intimacy coach maybe. I would be careful to ensure actresses felt at ease.”
Homecoming was added to the Competition basket two weeks after the official announcement when no charges were filed against her.
The Festival runs till May 27.