Delpy said the late diagnosis was just one part of navigating a career in an industry that hasn’t always been kind to outspoken women. When the #MeToo movement began, she welcomed the reckoning – though she remains critical of deeper systemic issues.

“It’s good to arrest the villain, but the villain is supported by a system,” she explained. “Individuals are able to act out on their impulses based on what system we’re in that allows the impulses to happen.”

For Delpy, accountability needs to go beyond punishing individual perpetrators: “It’s not just about punishing the predator, but asking who kept feeding him, paying him, awarding him.”

Those power imbalances extend beyond harassment. In 2019, Delpy spoke candidly about pay inequality, revealing she earned “about a 10th” of co-star Ethan Hawke’s fee for 1995’s Before Sunrise – and roughly half for 2004’s Before Sunset.

“I think it upset Ethan because it made it sound like he was… he was not happy with that quote, even though it was sort of a joke, and we make the joke between each other sometimes,” she admitted.

By the time Before Midnight was released in 2013, Delpy pushed for equal pay. “Maybe I wasn’t [paid equally] on the third one and they just told me I was,” she laughed. “Maybe I’m delusional.”

Hostage centres on a fictional British Prime Minister, played by Suranne Jones, whose loyalty is pushed to breaking point when her husband is kidnapped and she’s told to resign.

Meanwhile, France’s leader, Toussaint, is caught up in a high-stakes blackmail scandal. The two women are forced to join forces against a shared enemy, with their political futures—and much more—on the line.

Packed with twists and turns, Hostage promises to keep viewers guessing right up to the final moments. The series is now on Netflix.