Jessica Chastain Did Not Like How Females Were Portrayed at Cannes Film Festival

Jessica Chastain was not happy with how women were portrayed on screen while watching a slew of films back-to-back at Cannes Film Festival and noticing a common thread.

“I really took away from this experience is how the world views women from the female characters that I saw represented,” she shared at the closing press conference. “It was quite disturbing to me, to be honest – there are some exceptions.”

The actress is also a Cannes Film Festival jury member. “I do hope that when we include more female storytellers we will have a more of the women that I recognize in my day-to-day life. Ones that are proactive, have their own agencies, don’t just react to the men around them, they have their own point of view.”

While at the festival, Sofia Coppola won the best director award for The Beguiled, which was adapted form a Civil War novel.

Will Smith, another juror, also told reporters, “a couple black folks next year wouldn’t hurt.”

Cannes Film Festival Jessica Chastain women