French prosecutors on Wednesday said they opened an inquiry after actor Judith Godreche filed a complaint against film director Benoit Jacquot, accusing him of raping her in a relationship that began when she was 14 and he was 25 years her senior.
Jacquot, one of France’s most prominent directors, denied the accusations in comments to the Le Monde newspaper, which also interviewed Godreche.
He declined to comment further when contacted by AFP.
Photo: AFP
On Tuesday, 51-year-old Godreche lodged a formal complaint with the French police’s Juvenile Protection Brigade (BPM) of alleged rape of a minor by a person in a position of authority, her lawyer Laure Heinich said.
On Wednesday, the Paris prosecutor’s office said that a preliminary investigation was opened, with the BPM in charge of the case.
The announcement comes as French cinema is reeling from claims that the world of arts has shrugged off sexism and sexual abuse for decades.
Godreche last month on social media accused Jacquot, now 77, of manipulating her into a relationship as a vulnerable underage actor.
The crime is punishable by 20 years’ imprisonment, though the statute of limitations has “probably” expired in the case, Le Monde said.
The relationship began in the spring of 1986, when Godreche was 14, and ended in the early 1990s.
Godreche said she remained “in his grip” for six years, starring in two films he directed, Les Mendiants (The Beggars) in 1988 and La Desenchantee (The Disenchanted) in 1990. She decided to speak out after discovering him boasting about their relationship being a “transgression”, and cinema providing a “cover” for it, in a 2011 documentary.
Jacquot, a director with more than 50 films and TV films to his name, has said he needs to be “in love” with his actresses to film them.
He has worked with established stars such as Catherine Deneuve and Isabelle Huppert, as well as Godreche, Virginie Ledoyen and Isild Le Besco as teenagers.
In 2015, he described his work as “pushing an actress to pass a threshold.”
“The best way to do all that is to be in the same bed,” he said.
Godreche spoke to Le Monde at length about her relationship with Jacquot, recounting how he first had sex with her.
“He took my hand and led me upstairs, telling me to lie down on his bed,” the newspaper quoted her as saying. “I have no memory of being kissed. It’s as if there was no tenderness at all.”
Le Monde said the director talked to the teenager about sadism in cinema and played sadomasochistic sexual games with her.
He also forbade her to use any contraception and grew especially violent toward the end of their relationship, the newspaper said.
“It’s a story similar to stories of children who are kidnapped and grow up without seeing the world, and who can’t think ill of their captor,” the actress wrote in a statement for the BPM quoted by the newspaper. “I wanted Benoit to agree to be my friend, not to have me, I didn’t want his body.”
In a separate letter addressed to her 18-year-old daughter Tess and published by Le Monde, Godreche said she had never consented to the relationship with the director.
She wrote she had thought how she could “kill a man who would make you his mistress at 14.”
Speaking to Le Monde, Jacquot said he was “very much in love” with Godreche and they lived together.
“I was in a very bad way, I didn’t want to make any more films, and she pulled me out of the dark,” he was quoted as saying. “It was me, without irony, who was under her spell for six years.”
Godreche was among those in 2017 to speak out against US movie producer Harvey Weinstein at the height of the #MeToo movement.
Years later the campaign has picked up momentum in France and is forcing a fresh debate about sexism and sexual violence in French cinema.
Newly released footage of film star Gerard Depardieu making obscene comments sparked an uproar in the country in December last year, with French President Emmanuel Macron saying the actor had become the target of a “manhunt.”
A beauty queen who pulled out of the Miss South Africa competition when her nationality was questioned has said she wants to relocate to Nigeria, after coming second in the Miss Universe pageant while representing the West African country. Chidimma Adetshina, whose father is Nigerian, was crowned Miss Universe Africa and Oceania and was runner-up to Denmark’s Victoria Kjar Theilvig in Mexico on Saturday night. The 23-year-old law student withdrew from the Miss South Africa competition in August, saying that she needed to protect herself and her family after the government alleged that her mother had stolen the identity of a South
BELT-TIGHTENING: Chinese investments in Cambodia are projected to drop to US$35 million in 2026 from more than US$420 million in 2021 At a ceremony in August, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet knelt to receive blessings from saffron-robed monks as fireworks and balloons heralded the breaking of ground for a canal he hoped would transform his country’s economic fortunes. Addressing hundreds of people waving the Cambodian flag, Hun Manet said China would contribute 49 percent to the funding of the Funan Techo Canal that would link the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand and reduce Cambodia’s shipping reliance on Vietnam. Cambodia’s government estimates the strategic, if contentious, infrastructure project would cost US$1.7 billion, nearly 4 percent of the nation’s annual GDP. However, months later,
The Philippine Department of Justice yesterday labeled Vice President Sara Duterte the “mastermind” of a plot to assassinate the nation’s president, giving her five days to respond to a subpoena. Duterte is being asked to explain herself in the wake of a blistering weekend press conference where she said she had instructed that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr be killed should an alleged plot to kill her succeed. “The government is taking action to protect our duly elected president,” Philippine Undersecretary of Justice Jesse Andres said at yesterday’s press briefing. “The premeditated plot to assassinate the president as declared by the self-confessed mastermind
Texas’ education board on Friday voted to allow Bible-infused teachings in elementary schools, joining other Republican-led US states that pushed this year to give religion a larger presence in public classrooms. The curriculum adopted by the Texas State Board of Education, which is controlled by elected Republicans, is optional for schools to adopt, but they would receive additional funding if they do so. The materials could appear in classrooms as early as next school year. Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has voiced support for the lesson plans, which were provided by the state’s education agency that oversees the more than
RSS