I’m just not buying Kate Winslet’s nauseating and self-serving speech at the London Critics’ Circle film awards on Sunday where she said she bitterly regrets working with certain men in the film industry.
The Oscar-winning actress claimed she felt compelled to speak out after the Women’s March weekend, but I wonder if she felt compelled because her agent said it would be a good move to make a stand, albeit very late in the day.
Her silence over the last few months about harassment in Hollywood, with the exception of some digs at Harvey Weinstein spoke volumes about her complicity in a system that has protected predatory men and allowed sex abuse to take place.
After all, she appeared in Roman Polanski’s 2011 film Carnage. How did she justify working with a director who she knew had drugged and raped a child and is still a fugitive from the US criminal justice system? Did she factor any of this into her decision to sign up to the picture? Obviously not. Like many actors and actresses before her she put personal career advancement over concerns about sexual violence.
Only a few weeks ago she was gushing about Woody Allen who she worked with in last year’s Wonder Wheel, having adopted a hear no evil, see no evil stance to the accusation against him that he molested his daughter when she was seven.
While Allen hasn’t been convicted of any crime, the 1993 court ruling denying him custody of his children with Mia Farrow was scathing.
Bafflingly, Winslet’s speech has been lauded in some quarters. Yet, while expressing regret that she worked with some people she didn’t name names, perpetuating the wall of silence and doing a disservice to all the women she purports to be standing up for.
