Juliette Binoche, Marion Cotillard, Isabelle Huppert and other French actresses have cut their hair in solidarity with Iranian women.
Juliette Binoche has offered her solidarity to women in Iran
The trio joined 50 other French cinema icons such as Isabelle Adjani, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Alexandra Lamy to give themselves a haircut to express their support for the widespread civil unrest in Iran that was kickstarted by the state-sanctioned killing of the 22-year-old activist Mahsa Amini after she refused to follow the law forcing women to don the hijab on September 16.
The video - which was hashtagged with the phrase Hair For Freedom and was posted on Wednesday (05.10.22) - begins with the ‘Chocolat’ star, 58, snipping off a chunk of her ponytail, saying “For Freedom” into the camera.
The caption - written in French - reads: “Since Mahsa’s death on September 16, the Iranian people, led by women, have been protesting at the risk of their lives. These people only hope for access to the most essential freedoms. These women, these men, are asking for our support.
“Their courage and dignity oblige us [to act]. It is impossible not to denounce again and again this terrible repression. There have been dozens of deaths, including children.
"The arrests are swelling the number of prisoners already illegally held and too often tortured. We decided to answer the call that was thrown at us by cutting some of these locks.”
The Instagram clip - which follows after a letter of 1,000 French cinema figures urging support for the protests, including Catherine Corsini, Alice Diop and Audrey Diwan - is soundtracked by a Persian edition of the anti-fascist resistance song ‘Bella Ciao’, a viral cover sung by Gandom, a female artist from Iran.
It ends with a visual created by Marjane Satrapi, who explored the reality of women’s rights in Iran in her acclaimed graphic novel ‘Persepolis’, which was made into a movie in 2007.
Tagged in Juliette Binoche Marion Cotillard Isabelle Huppert