Austrian film-maker says that movement against sexual assault has prompted a ‘crusade against any form of eroticism’ that belongs in Middle Ages

Michael Haneke has become the latest figure to criticise the #MeToo movement against sexual assault and harassment in the film industry, arguing that it has instigated a “witch hunt” that “should be left in the Middle Ages”.

The Austrian film-maker, two-time winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes, made his concerns known during an interview with Austrian newspaper Kurier, later reported by Deadline. “This new puritanism coloured by a hatred of men, arriving on the heels of the #MeToo movement, worries me,” he said. “As artists, we’re starting to be fearful since we’re faced with this crusade against any form of eroticism.”

While Haneke noted that any act of “rape or coercion” should be punishable, he said that “this hysterical pre-judgment which is spreading now, I find absolutely disgusting. And I don’t want to know how many of these accusations related to incidents 20 or 30 years ago are primarily statements that have little to do with sexual assault.

“This has nothing to do with the fact that every sexual assault and all violence – whether against women or men – should be condemned and punished. But the witch hunt should be left in the Middle Ages,” he added.

Haneke argued that a film such as Nagisa Ôshima’s 1976 erotic drama In the Realm of the Senses, which attracted controversy for including scenes of unsimulated sex, would not be made today “because the funding institutions would not allow this, anticipating obedience to this terror”.

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“Suspected actors are cut out of movies and TV series in order not to lose [audiences]. Where are we living? In the new Middle Ages?” Haneke said, touching on the recent decisions to edit actors accused of sexual misconduct, such as Kevin Spacey and Ed Westwick, out of finished works. Westwick has denied the claims made against him, while Spacey has denied some of the allegations and not responded to others.

Haneke’s comments echo those made in an open letter to Le Monde in January that described the #MeToo movement as a “wave of purification” that had “forced [men] out of their jobs when all they did was touch someone’s knee or try to steal a kiss”. The letter, signed by 100 women, including actor Catherine Deneuve, was criticised by French feminists for conflating “seduction, based on respect and pleasure, with violence”.