Director claims the pill has 'chased away the romance in our lives' as he brings new film Venus in Fur to Cannes

You might not suppose Roman Polanski and the 87-year-old Jerry Lewis had a great deal in common, but today the director followed Lewis' suggestion that broad comedy is inappropriate for women actors by complaining that aiming for female equality is "a great pity".

Speaking at the Cannes film festival of his latest film Venus in Fur, the 79-year-old Polanski said that "trying to level the genders is purely idiotic." "Offering flowers to a lady has become indecent … The pill has greatly changed the place of women in our times, masculinising her. It chases away the romance in our lives."

Polanski's film is an adaptation of the successful play by David Ives about a theatre director (played by Mathieu Amalric) who is looking for an actress to play the lead role in a stage version of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's notorious 1870 novella Venus in Furs. The two handed play evolves to reflect and invert the mistress/slave relationship portrayed in Sacher-Masoch's original.

Polanski cast his wife Emmanuelle Seigner – at 46, 33 years his junior - in the role of Vanda, the apparently-chaotic actress who comes to dominate the initially-powerful director. Polanski, however, deflected any suggestion that any parallels exist with his own life.

"The satire on sexism was very seductive," he said. "There was a macho element to [the director] character that was torn to pieces. That was enjoyable. People who know me know there is nothing like that in my personality, so it gave me great satisfaction to do it."

However, there is no mistaking the physical resemblance between Polanski and Amalric; the latter joked: "My mother is coming [to the premiere] this evening; maybe she can explain it to me!"

Ives has no official credit on the film, but he was on hand to offer his own take on the gender politics at play. "When I wrote the original play, I basically began with a man who needed an actress, and let the actress walk through the door. At one point she says [the Sacher-Masoch story] is sexist - but I would leave that up to you to judge. I will tell you though, when the play was on Broadway, one night there was a woman sat right in the front row, who every few minutes she would shout "Yes!"

Polanski was briefly detained by Swiss police in 2009 during a trip to the Zurich film festival, after the US authorities (still pursuing the director after he pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor and fled the US in 1978) requested his arrest. He has no such fears of detention at Cannes, where he is regarded with awe. Venus in Fur is his third feature to be selected for competition, and he won the Palme d'Or in 2002 for The Pianist.

Though ruefully recalling the "disastrous" reception his first Cannes film, The Tenant, experienced in 1976 – "we were humiliated, basically" – Polanski did at least clear up one small mystery. If you ever wondered whether or not film-makers know in advance if they have won the Palme, Polanski revealed that they do; or at least, he did.

"After the awful time with The Tenant, I went straight back to Paris after The Pianist had its screening. On the morning of the awards they called me and said I had to come back. At first I didn't know what for but they convinced me come. A half an hour before the awards show actually started they told me it was the Palme."

So if Polanski leaps to his feet on Sunday night, looking shocked and surprised, we know there might be a little bit of acting involved. A not inappropriate response if a film about theatre wins.