Los Angeles (AFP)

The American actress Rose McGowan, one of the first to denounce the alleged sexual attacks of Harvey Weinstein, strongly criticized on Facebook the feminist "comedy" played according to her by Natalie Portman during the Oscars on Sunday evening.

On the red carpet, Natalie Portman was dressed in a black cape on which she had inscribed the names of several directors who she said had been unfairly excluded from the 2020 selection, where no woman appeared. Embroidered in gold letters were the names of Lorene Scafaria ("Queens"), Lulu Wang ("Farewell"), Greta Gerwig ("Daughters of Doctor March"), Mati Diop ("Atlantic"), Melina Matsoukas ("Queen & Slim") and Céline Sciamma ("Portrait of the girl on fire").

"I wanted to subtly highlight the women who have not been recognized for their incredible work this year," said Portman.

Rose McGowan did not choose subtlety in the message posted on his Facebook page to castigate "this kind of protest celebrated by the mainstream media for his courage".

"Courageous? No, far from it. Rather an actress who plays comedy and pretends to be someone committed. Like so many others," says Rose McGowan, who judges "insulting to all those between us who really act the kind of Portman activism. "

And she directly calls out to her colleague: "Natalie, you have worked with two directors during your very long career - one of them was you. You have a production company which employed precisely one director, you".

Rose McGowan then urges Natalie Portman and the other "elite" actresses to "change the world" instead of "pretending" to be on the side of other women.

Natalie Portman, winner of the Oscar for Best Actress in 2011 for her role in "Black Swan", replied more soberly, acknowledging in a press release that she did not deserve to be called "courageous", a term that '' she prefers to reserve for victims who recently testified in New York at the trial of Harvey Weinstein.

She also admits that she has not worked with as many directors as she would have liked. "I have had a few experiences where I helped female directors get involved in projects that they were then forced to abandon because of the working conditions they endured," said the actress.

"I mean I have tried and will continue," she adds.

© 2020 AFP