French film directors probed over alleged sexual abuse and rape
The MeToo movement continues to shake French cinema with fresh accusations of sexual abuse levelled against directors Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon, while prosecutors demand director Christophe Ruggia go on trial.
Issued on: Modified:
French actress Judith Godreche, 51, on Thursday accused Doillon of sexually abusing her when she was 15.
It follows a formal complaint she filed on Tuesday against Jacquot, another director, alleging he raped her when she was 14 and starting out in her career.
The Paris prosecutor's office is investigating the claims, the French news agency AFP reported.
French cinema has been reeling from accusations it has shrugged off sexism and sexual abuse for decades.
Neither Doillon, 79, nor Jacquot, 77, replied to a request from AFP for comment.
Jacquot, one of France's most prominent directors, firmly rejected the allegations against him in the daily Le Monde.
Godreche accuses Jacquot of raping her during a six-year-long relationship that started when she was 14. He is 25 years her senior.
She said she remained "in his grip" for those six years, and decided to speak out after he boasted about their relationship being a "transgression", and cinema providing a "cover" for it, in a 2011 documentary.
Jacquot's alleged crime is punishable by 20 years' in prison, though the statute of limitations has probably expired, Le Monde reported.
Repeated love scene
In the case of Doillon, Godrèche said he took advantage while directing her in the 1989 film "La fille de 15 ans" (The 15-year-old Girl). She was 15 at the time; he was 44.
"He decided there would be a love scene, a sex scene, between him and me," she told France Inter radio. "And we did 45 takes. I'm bare chested, he's fondling me and French kissing me."
Asked by France Inter if she was abused by the director, she said he was.
Doillon was in a relationship with actress and singer Jane Birkin at the time, and she was on set as an assistant.
"What happened in Jane's house, in Doillon's office, nobody saw and I didn't tell anyone," Godreche said.
"But then on set, it was unbelievable," she said of the sex scene and the fact that no adult stood up for her.
"Jane was there behind the monitor and it was an extremely painful situation for her," Godreche added.
Birkin, who died last year, mentioned the incident in her 2019 memoir Post-Scriptum.
"He'd kiss Judith Godreche 20 times in a row asking me what the best take was. A real agony," she wrote.
Admission of errors
Meanwhile French prosecutors have requested a trial for film director Christophe Ruggia, who was charged in 2020 over accusations he sexually assaulted actor Adele Haenel, now 34, from the age of 12 to 15.
Her accusations at the time stunned the French film industry, which has been slower than Hollywood to react to the MeToo movement that revealed sexual abuse in the arts.
According to sources close to Haenel's case, her young age at the time of the alleged facts and Ruggia's position of authority are considered aggravating circumstances.
Ruggia at first strongly denied he had done anything wrong, but after being expelled from the French directors' guild he once led, he admitted to having made "errors".
In December, footage of film star Gérard Depardieu making obscene comments sparked an outcry in France.
The uproar intensified after President Emmanuel Macron said the actor had become the target of a "manhunt".
(with newswires)
Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning
Subscribe