We’ve read the reviews of Carol, a film starring Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett as two women who’re trying to have a relationship with one another in spite of the strict codes of conduct they’re forced to live within in a pre-female liberation 1950s America. And we’re really, really excited to see it.
We bet loads of people who made their way to its premiere at Cannes were pretty excited to see it, too. The problem? Someone was there, turning women away from the screening. Why? They weren’t wearing high heels.
Really. That someone clearly doesn’t get the bleak irony; that the whole film is about how stiflingly horrible it is to have to conform to entirely arbitrary rules and processes. And it stars Cate Blanchett, who’s famously pissed off with the way the red carpet works. On a simpler level, whoever turned the women away doesn’t get that some people can’t trot around on heels – nor should they have to.
Screen magazine reports: ‘Multiple guests, some with medical conditions, were denied access for wearing rhinestone flats.
‘The festival declined to comment on the matter, but did confirm it is obligatory for all women to wear high heels to red-carpet screenings.’
Not only that, but the festival has a real lack of female filmmakers in its programme. It doesn’t look good for their reputation right now.
Is this what happens when the world of male-powered Hollywood – which Salma Hayek has said doesn’t ‘see [women] as a powerful economic force, which is an incredible ignorance’ – collides with France, where most recently, 40 female journalistssigned a letter complaining about the culture of ‘lewd paternalism’ which encourages intense sexism from male politicians?
Or is this just how Cannes is? Either way, it shouldn’t be that difficult for the organisers to let women not wear heels on the red carpet while retaining any glamour it has left. After all, rhinestone flats are hardly a scuffed up pair of Reebok Classics, are they?
Like this? You might also be interested in:
It’s OK To Carry Around Flat Shoes. And Other High-Heel Wearing Tips From Sophia Webster
Crying In Your Agonising Heels? Try This Nifty Trick With The Scotch Tape On Your Desk
Patricia Arquette And Reese Witherspoon Used Last Night’s Oscars To Be Awesome About Women
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.