Culture

Novel pushes against the conventional role of the fifty-year-old woman

Paris (France), 9 Nov (EFE/EPA) - (Camera: María D. Valderrama) Can women be objects of desire after 50? French writer Camille Laurens, a member of the Academy of Goncurt, reveals in her book "Clara and Claire" sexist stereotypes and denounces the invisibility of women in this disturbing thriller about love and social networks. Claire, a 48 year old divorced woman registers in the social networks with the false profile of a 24 year old girl with which she will manage to conquer Chris, an eternal adolescent in her thirties with artistic delusions who, in turn, will fall in love with the alter ego of the main character.FOOTAGE OF AND STATEMENTS BY WRITER CAMILLE LAURENSTRANSLATIONS:"(The narrator, Claire, is very angry because she has been affected by) this invisibility that affects women who are close to 50. It's something I've been able to observe both in myself and in many of my friends. Also in the cinema, in Hollywood, many actresses complain that when they turn 45 they don't find any more roles or they are roles of a mother of a family, of a depressive woman, but nothing romantic as men of the same age can have. I think it's a real societal phenomenon and that there is a real inequality between men and women that is evident.""I say this at one point in the novel: men mature and women age. That's how they are considered, as old and useless, they are not looked at, they are not considered either object or subject of desire. I think that women have generally been very patient, either through imposed patience, or because they had this kind of understanding of what is masculine and what is expected of them. And I think that after the Me too there is an awareness among women of all generations that we cannot afford to wait for the good will or understanding of men but that we have to act."