French police question two filmmakers over alleged sexual abuse

Her questioning in connection with alleged abuse of much younger actors, including in the 1980s and in several cases when the actors were minors, comes at a time when activists believe French cinema has covered up abuse for too long.

Investigators launched an investigation after 52-year-old actress and director Judith Godreche formally accused Jacquot earlier this year of rape during a relationship with him that began when she was 14 and he was 25 years her senior.

She also filed a complaint against Doillon for sexual assault during a film shoot when she was 15.

Several other actors have since made similar allegations.

Isild Le Besco, 41, has filed a complaint of rape during a relationship with Jacquot that also began when she was a minor, and Julia Roy, 34, has accused him of sexual assault.

Le Besco also claimed that Doillon made advances to her during work meetings, while 46-year-old Anna Mouglalis claimed the filmmaker forcibly kissed her in 2011.

Jacquot and Doillon’s lawyers opposed the detention of their clients for questioning, arguing that they could have answered the questions as free men and stressing that they were innocent until proven guilty.

They could be held for up to 48 hours after their initial arrest on Monday morning.

Since breaking her silence, Godreche has become a leading voice in the French #MeToo movement.

After calling for the creation of a film regulator, French parliamentarians voted in May to set up a commission to investigate sexual and gender-based violence in the film industry and other cultural sectors.

The head of France’s largest cinema institution, Dominique Boutonnat, resigned on Friday after being convicted of sexually abusing his godson in 2020.

Boutonnat was sentenced to three years in prison, two of which were suspended. He can serve his one-year sentence at home wearing an electronic ankle bracelet.

And 75-year-old film legend Gérard Depardieu put his career on hold last fall after a series of allegations were made against him, all of which he denies.

He will stand trial in October for sexually assaulting two women and risks a second trial after being charged in 2020 with the rape of an actress in 2018, when she was 22 and anorexic.

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