Legendary French Actress Catherine Deneuve Decries #MeToo Movement As ‘Puritanism’

In an open letter, Deneuve and other prominent French women called the wave of sexual harassment allegations against prominent men “a witch hunt.”

French movie icon Catherine Deneuve thinks the #MeToo movement to hold sexual harassers accountable has gone too far, joining a group of other influential French women arguing that it amounts to “puritanism” and “a wave of purification” that has created “a climate of a totalitarian society.”

The actress was among 100 women ― including journalists, filmmakers, writers and intellectuals ― who signed the letter, published Tuesday in France’s leading newspaper Le Monde. The missive decried the recent wave of sexual misconduct allegations against powerful men as “a witch hunt” and a hindrance to “sexual freedom.”

They claimed that “the Weinstein affair,” referring to the bombshell stories of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s serial sexual harassment and assault of actresses and employees, has led to unfair punishments in some cases and stems from “a hatred of men and of sexuality.”

“Men have been sanctioned in their professions, forced to resign, etc., when their only wrongdoing was touching someone’s knee, trying to steal a kiss, talking about ‘intimate’ things during a professional dinner, or sending messages with a sexual connotation to a woman who wasn’t attracted to them,” they wrote.

The women went on to suggest that #MeToo has led to “a fever to send the ‘pigs’ to the slaughterhouse” — referring to the French version of the social media hashtag, #BalanceTonPorc, which roughly translates to “call out your pig.”

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