The Trophée des Arts, established exchange. FIAF is delighted to present in 1992, recognizes a distinguished the 2018 award to actress Jane Fonda artist or cultural icon who exemplifies for her award-winning career and our organization’s mission of French- extraordinary life bridging French American friendship and cross-cultural and American culture.

TROPHÉE DES ARTS 2018 JANE FONDA Actress, Icon and Activist

Jane Fonda is nowhere near slowing “I decided I wanted to go to Paris because down. The two-time Academy Award I wanted to make my own way. It was the winner is currently the subject of a five- time of La Nouvelle Vague, and Paris was a part HBO documentary, Jane Fonda very exciting place for filmmaking,” she said. in Five Acts, and she stars in Netflix’s popular show Grace and Frankie. Once in France, she found more than an individual path, she discovered her The celebrated actress, feminist icon, unique voice. She had first traveled to Paris and vocal political activist developed her as a teenager with her father, on his way singular voice when she moved to France. to Italy to star with Audrey Hepburn in King Vidor’s adaptation of Tolstoy’s The daughter of one of America’s most novel War and Peace. revered actors, Henry Fonda, Jane was less self-assured growing up. “Je n’étais pas très “The thing that made me love Paris was heureuse en tant que jeune fille (I was not very “Les murs,” she said, waxing nostalgic. happy as a young girl)” she said in flawless “It was the walls and the colors of the French, which she believes she speaks Parisian stones that I fell in love with.” “plus ou moins (more or less).” Fonda also fell in love with French film Wearing her father’s famous last name had director Roger Vadim, and the two its benefits, “People paid attention to me eventually married. Soon after, Vadim because I was Henry Fonda’s daughter. directed her in the comedy Barbarella. So I had opportunities that others would not She remembers this as a time of romance: have had.” Still, even after starring in six movies, not just with a man, but with an entire culture including the 1962 film Period of Adjustment, and lifestyle, recalling the sound of cars on for which she received her first Golden Globe the paved “narrow” streets of Paris and Award nomination, she felt she “was under conversations in a foreign language. the big shadow” of her father. “I stayed to be with him,” she said. “I spoke French and liked the idea of living in France.” Fate intervened when French film director Their apartment was “‘dans le grenier (in the René Clément cast Fonda in his movie, attic) of the Hotel des Ambassadeurs d’Hollande, Les Félins (Joy House), alongside Alain Delon. rue Vieille du Temple in Le Marais. Jane Fonda in Barbarella, 1968

24 25 Before we lived on rue Seguier and also in In Hollywood, this means finding more and who now heads the Cinémathèque the 15th arrondissement.” She listed her old projects for women to produce, write, direct, de Paris where the actress was scheduled Parisian addresses as if they were a poem— and cast. “It’s the people that are not in front to give a masterclass. And, there was a dinner a Prévert catalog—reciting the charms of of the camera that make the decisions about with Roger Vadim’s niece Nathalie and a few the French capital, where she found a home. what story will be covered,” she said. So, the days in Paris with Catherine Schneider, whom key question, Fonda explained, is who gets Vadim married after her. Fonda explains: Paris also helped define her identity. It is in to tell the story. “La famille Vadim, ce sont surtout eux que France that Jane the actress became “Jane j’ai hâte de voir quand je viens à Paris (When the trailblazer.” “Historically, it has always been the winner, I come to Paris, it’s the Vadim family that those in power—which means that for almost I can’t wait to see).” In the 1960s and early 70s, Fonda met French the totality of history, it has been men—who actress Simone Signoret who became her have gotten to tell the story.” Even HBO’s series Would she also ever consider acting in mentor: “She explained the [Vietnam] War, The Newsroom, in which she plays a media a French movie? “Ce n’est pas impossible,” and what it was really about. And then I met mogul, has “a mostly male-only point of view.” she answered. Perhaps in a film produced American soldiers who had resisted the war and directed by a woman. and I decided that I had to leave France and “Everything affects women differently: war, return to the United States to be part of the bankruptcy, famine, climate crisis, healthcare. anti-war movement.” Jane Fonda had Women look at and experience things in a become an activist. different way; so, we now have to demand that we also get to tell the story.” Tellingly, When she left Paris, her need to speak up Fonda has adeptly made sure to voice her against injustice and give a platform to own narrative. the disenfranchised, particularly women, was cemented. For more than eight decades, Fonda has witnessed progress and change, much of In 2004, Fonda, now a producer, actress, which she has helped to pioneer. “But it is and former wife of CNN founder Ted Turner, too slow,” she said. “We are facing a global could not fathom how women “voted for crisis on many levels.” She wants to see more the re-election of George W. Bush against women in leadership positions, in Hollywood their own interest.” and in Washington. “We have different ideas on how to solve problems.” “So much of how people think, how they see themselves and their place in the world These difficult issues weighed heavily on is created by the media,” she explained. Fonda's mind as she received the Prix Lumière “We have to do something so that more on October 19, 2018. “a sort of Nobel Prize for women’s voices are heard in all forms of media.” Cinema,” as described by the Director of the Lumière Institute in Lyon, Thierry Frémaux. So she launched Women’s Media Center However, she was thrilled to be back in France, with Gloria Steinem and Robin Morgan. which has remained a haven of friendships for This ambitious organization provides female Fonda, mostly with Vadim’s family and in leaders with media training, helping them to cinema. “I like this festival of people who more effectively communicate in interviews love old movies and old cinema,” Fonda said and across social media. Through the Women’s while detailing the dinners and gatherings Media Center, Fonda works to create openings she had planned while in France. on television, film, and other forms of entertainment for women’s visions, ideas, There was a conversation with “the terrific” and perspectives. Frémaux, who is also the director of the Cannes Film Festival (which last May “If only men tell the story, then half of the awarded Jane Fonda a special Golden Palm, population is left out,” Fonda said. “And the an honor only French directors Alain other half, the men, are robbed of hearing Resnais, Gérard Oury and French actress the narrative from a woman’s point of view. Jeanne Moreau had received). Both sides, men and women, are losing by not having women’s voices strongly She saw film director Costa Gavras “who was represented in the media.” the first assistant director of Les Félins”

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