the new film by Noémie Merlant, an outlet for the sexual assaults of which she was a victim

Noémie Merlant signs her second film as a director. Women on the balconya feature film in which she also plays one of the three main roles alongside Souheila Yacoub and Sanda Codreanu, is released in theaters on December 11. In full promotion of the work, the 35-year-old actress-director was the guest of the show Daily from December 3, broadcast on the TMC channel. The opportunity for her to return to the traumas she suffered, which form the backdrop to the film.

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“This film is about sexist and sexual violence,” she admits during the interview conducted by Yann Barthès. “Although it is a comedy that mixes gore, the absurd and the fantastic, we are talking about extremely serious things, things that I experienced, that I needed to externalize.”

Sexual violence

The events in question? First, the sexual assault by a photographer when she was only 17 years old. The actress recounted this trauma during an interview given to the show Clique last September. While she was a model, she went for her first contract shoot with a professional photographer in Paris. After asking him a few questions about his private life, the latter allegedly suggested that he pose naked, showing him as bait photos of the same ilk with known models. “That’s when it comes to a moment of sexual assault,” the actress said.

Noémie Merlant also spoke of the other sexual violence of which she and those around her were victims, in particular “the marital rape” that she experienced. “Talking around me, to my 17-18 year old cousins, to my 70 year old aunts… they had all pretty much experienced this too,” continues the actress-director. A sad observation which motivated her to take up the subject in cinema. “I had the impression that there weren't enough representations, that we weren't talking about it enough.”

Art as catharsis

The making of the feature film Women on the balcony It therefore had the effect of therapy. “It’s a cathartic film, a film which soothes and which I hope allows us to become aware of certain things, to open up to discussions, to speaking out,” says Noémie Merlant.

What to repair certain injuries? “Yes,” says the young woman. “Because the violence accumulated over the years, which I put under the rug… it has to be brought out somewhere.” And the director concludes: “I don’t want to bring it out in reality so I’m putting it in a film.”