He is not a "holy monster", he is a man, she says.
The French megastar Juliette Binoche, chair of this year's jury, talks about her colleague Gérard Depardieu, who on Tuesday was given a suspended sentence by a court in Paris for sexual assault.
He is a man who has lost his aura, she continues.
Strong and Berry on the jury
When Binoche meets the press before the festival starts, she has the other jury members beside her, including actors Jeremy Strong and Halle Berry and directors Reygada and Payal Kapadia.
The press conference deals with both film and politics, such as the war in Gaza and Donald Trump's tariffs. And about #metoo, which came to France much later than to other European countries.
It was a big step, and the accusations against Depardieu came as a result of #metoo, says Juliette Binoche.
"Has been holy"
She has made several films together with Depardieu.
He has been holy, now he is not. It makes me think harder about power and how people use power.
A journalist wonders why Binoche has not, like hundreds of colleagues have done, signed the public letter demanding that Cannes take a stand against what is happening in Gaza. She does not want to answer but only says:
You will understand later.
The topic of Trump comes up when Jeremy Strong gets a question about Abassi's film "The Apprentice", where Strong played Donald Trump's lawyer and advisor Roy Cohn.
It was Cohn who came up with things like fake news. Today we live in the aftermath of what he did. That's why film is more important than ever. With film, we can communicate honestly, says Jeremy Strong.
