Le deuxième sexe : sur les traces de Simone de Beauvoir

During a road trip across the United States — the very journey that sparked the genesis of ​“The Second Sex” — this film offers an unprecedented look at Simone de Beauvoir​’s trailblazing work through the lens of feminist theorists who explore its influence and limitations. When ​“The Second Sex” was published in 1949, it unleashed a seismic shift: a thousand-page manifesto advocating for gender equality, women’s independence, and moral liberation. For the first time, a woman provided a sharp and novel analysis of male domination mechanisms in a post-war society not yet recognized as patriarchal. The uproar was colossal; the impact, worldwide. Less known is that it was during a 1947 lecture tour in the United States that Simone de Beauvoir found her inspiration. Over four months, she meticulously observed the behaviors of elite young women, the constraining fashion of New Yorkers, the subjugation of married women, and the harsh realities of a segregated South. ​“It’s strange and exhilarating to suddenly see at 40 an aspect of the world that is glaringly obvious and yet had been invisible,” said the author about the origins of her essay. ​“I started seeing women with new eyes, and each observation led to another surprise.” These insights, recorded in a notebook, would heavily influence her seminal work.

Seventy-five years on, what is the measure of her pioneering ideas? How has the iconic statement ​“One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman” shattered centuries of patriarchal rule and set the groundwork for modern theories like gender and ecofeminism? Envisioned as a journey back to the roots of Simone de Beauvoir’s thought, the film by Nathalie Masduraud and Valérie Urrea (known for ​“Alice Guy – The Unknown of the 7^th Art” and the ​“H24” series) guides us across the United States to the places that inspired the philosopher and fueled her theories. It’s both an intimate and political exploration that vividly brings to life the philosopher’s writings, artfully ​“interpreted” by Noémie Merlant. The narrative is enriched by discussions with prominent feminist thinkers of our time—Judith Butler, Laure Murat, Silvia Federici, Kellie Carter Jackson, Caitlin Keliiaa, and Françoise Vergès—who critique the brilliance, as well as the limitations and oversights, of this ​“feminist bible.“

In the presence of director Valérie Urréa on March 19^th in Montreal.