Julie Delpy: All religions are misogynistic
French actress and filmmaker Julie Delpy's latest comedy, "Lolo," chronicles the havoc wreaked on the dating life of a single mother (Delpy) by her spoiled, possibly dangerous college-age son, Lolo (Vincent Lacoste). Luckily for Delpy, though, her own relationship with her real-life son isn't nearly as chaotic. But maybe that's because he's a 6-year-old atheist.
How did you go about finding the right tone for the humor in "Lolo"?
I wanted the humor to be a little bit like if Lolo had written the screenplay, kind of childish. It's funny, I was showing my son my comedy films -- he's six and a half -- and he didn't laugh at all. He doesn't like my comedies at all: "Mommy, I don't understand, everyone talks all the time." And then I showed him a scene from this film, and he's laughing out loud. It's physical comedy, it's simple jokes.
There's also some pretty frank sexual humor.
I felt like it was important for me to define the female characters. They just talk about sex like it's a part of life. And the truth is, that's how women talk about sex. They can be a little sexist -- and they are -- but we've had enough sexism, we can do a bit back. We've earned a little joke or two objectifying men a little bit.
Where do you think the idea that women don't joke about sex comes from?
That women are less sexual, less interested in talking about sex? They can't talk about it, they have no sense of humor about relationships? I don't know. Also, the idea that women don't have a sense of humor, period. I don't even know where that comes from. It's really misogynistic, if you think about it.
Are there other movies you've tried to get your son to watch that he's resisted?
I don't know why, but I wanted to show him "The Ten Commandments," because I remembered it as a good film as a kid, but it's actually really boring and long. And he was like, "Mommy, why is religion so boring?" He doesn't believe in God, so I tried to explain it to him. And I said, "Religion has never been very good to women" -- overall religion.
Women are always bad, women are always sin. Every religion, even Buddhism. It's supposedly better? Bulls**t. Everything is the same, everything is putting women down. It's really awful. And that's why I'm completely non-religious at every level. It's always misogynistic, and I find that unacceptable. It's also the complete end of research and the mind expanding. Intellectually, it kills you. It destroys looking for answers.
You prefer a more philosophical approach?
I think my approach to everything is actually -- it's going to sound pretentious but it really is not -- my approach to life is very philosophical in a way. I analyze everything, even for comedy. Comedy is a very interesting concept to me. It's probably the thing that separates us the most from animals, humor. Even more than logical thought. Humor is completely human.
And even then, not everyone has a sense of humor.
Everyone's different. I'm sure this film, some people won't find funny at all because they'll be upset about the sexuality and all that stuff. Women talking like this will make some men upset. Just the mention of a big penis will make them upset, anyway. [Laughs.] But that's their problem.
"Lolo" is currently in select theaters nationwide.