16 Years Later, French Actress Exposes Harsh Reality of Filming Action Movie with Zoe Saldana

In her latest release, “Just for Pleasure”, now playing in theaters, Reem Kherici directs her fourth feature film. As an actress and director, she delves into a topic still considered taboo: female pleasure.

“Just for Pleasure” follows Fanny (Alexandra Lamy) and Tom (François Cluzet), a married couple who have been content for 20 years. However, a secret comes to light: Fanny has never experienced an orgasm. Tom, an engineer, then sets out to tackle a bold challenge: to invent a device that will revolutionize female pleasure. Together, they embark on a wild and touching journey that will transform their relationship.

The film is loosely inspired by the invention of the Womanizer, though it does not depict the true story of its German inventors, Michael and Brigitte Lenke. Kherici was more interested in exploring themes of communication within relationships, female desire, and the unspoken dynamics that can exist after years of marriage.

Reem Kherici’s Emphasis on a Supportive Environment

When shooting intimate scenes, Kherici, who is also an actress, made sure to establish a very specific atmosphere of trust on set. An intimacy coordinator was present during filming and spoke individually with the actors to clearly define their boundaries of what they were comfortable showing on camera. During the most sensitive scenes, only essential crew members were present.

For Alexandra Lamy, however, the support system was not enough on its own; it was Kherici’s perspective that truly altered the filming experience.

“Beyond the intimacy coordinator, who is extremely important, there was also the director’s viewpoint. She put us at ease herself,” explained the actress.

She added, “I think if it had been directed by a man, even just for the orgasm scene, he might have wanted something more demonstrative, a gesture, a hand, a close-up… But she, she films it from the inside. You see almost nothing yet feel everything.”

Lamy also spoke about how Kherici’s precise direction helped to create a calm environment: “When I read the script, I wondered how she would film the kissing and orgasm scenes. It’s a challenge. It’s amazing to have a director who explains exactly what will happen. She played music to set the mood with François. She told us exactly how the camera would move, she made us comfortable… It was an extraordinary fluidity.”

A Painful Experience During the Filming of Colombiana

Kherici connects her careful approach directly to her own acting experiences. “Being an actress helped me to be even more considerate of Alexandra’s modesty, to want to protect and enhance her more,” she shared before recounting a significant event in her acting career.

Kherici then added, “It’s a pact of womanhood and a responsibility as a director and also as the actress in me that was violated. And I suffered from it on a film called Colombiana (Note: an action film released in 2011 directed by Olivier Megaton and produced by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen). They completely disregarded what had been agreed, and I was fired from the project.”

It displeased them, and I was fired!

“In one scene, I was at the edge of the pool, and the actor was supposed to carry me like a princess. Instead, he threw me over his shoulder, my buttocks were facing the camera, and he spanked me! As professional as I am, I didn’t stop the scene but I called my agent and said: ‘Well, that made me uncomfortable, I wasn’t asked for permission…, I’d like to know the upcoming scenes and how they will be handled.’ It didn’t please them, and I was fired from the project.”

This incident appears to have left a deep imprint on the filmmaker, who now places a high priority on consent and respect for her actors during shoots. Having been removed from a project after expressing her discomfort with a scene she believed was not handled as agreed, Kherici now aims to create a cinema where trust is an integral part of the directorial process.

“Just for Pleasure” is currently showing in theaters.

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