German star at Cannes condemns ‘madness’ of protective culture for UK child actors

Is Britain leading the way in protecting young people and children from the potential traumas of working on a film set, or has it all gone far too far? Two of the most prominent European stars attending the Cannes film festival, both with high-profile premieres, have very different views.

Franz Rogowski, the acclaimed German actor who plays a key role in Bird, British director Andrea Arnold’s contender for the top Palme d’Or prize, said this weekend that the proliferation of chaperones and intimacy coordinators that had been required on the shoot on location in Kent qualified as well-intended “madness”.

Speaking after the premiere of the hard-hitting drama on Friday night, the 38-year-old actor said the high number of handlers employed to ensure the wellbeing of all the underage and child actors in the film had felt excessive to him.

“It feels a bit off-balance,” said Rogowski, who went on to point out that children already have many other damaging freedoms online where they are more exposed to danger and not protected.

But Judith Godrèche, the French actor and director who has shaken up the Croisette in the opening days of the festival with her personal crusade against abuse in the French film industry, said she believed that Britain, and in particular the BBC, was at the forefront of improvements in the way young people and children employed in film-making are looked after. She has made her own recent accusations that she was abused while working as an underage actor, allegations that are denied.

Speaking at a public event staged above the famous red carpet of the Palais du Festival, Godrèche said: “It has been interesting to compare the reactions to #MeToo in the United States and in the UK. The BBC, I believe, have very serious and rigid rules protecting minors on set.” The French government and members of the National Assembly need to take note, she added: “They cannot continue to turn a blind eye to this.