Prior IMF Chief, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 65,has allegedly urged lawyers to sue the makers of the film “Welcome to New York” by Abel Ferrara. “Welcome to New York” is a film about a sex addict who sexually assaults a hotel maid. The sex addict is played by French starlet, Gerard Depardieu.
The film had a private screening at the Cannes film festival and has been available to the French population via pay-per-view for 7 euros. At the Cannes festival, the controversial film was all the buzz.
Welcome to New York was specified as a fictional film and even includes a legal disclaimer. Nonetheless, Strauss-Kahn’s lawyer is focused on the disdainful aspects of the picture and how it resembles former accusations against Strauss-Kahn in 2011.
A maid had accused him of sexual assault and subsequently Strauss-Kahn quit the International Monetary Fund of DC. The charges were dropped as a rumored civil settlement of $1.5 million resolved the allegation.
Ferrara still maintains that the film was in fact fiction and that he is entitled to choose the subject matter of his film, regardless of what real-life situation it may bear be similar to. He asserted, “I’m an artist, I have freedom of speech. I’m from America I’m from the country of the free, land of the free and home of the brave.”
Apparently on the set of the film, crew members were given “gift bags” containing viagra and condoms. The film itself also remains a highly controversial piece. Apparently, it has anti-semitic qualities on top of it’s appallingly explicit material. Considering the content currently permitted in the media, such a shocked reaction to a film is truly a rarity.
So the question remains: should this risky piece be admired or condemned?
