French director accused of rape

PARIS:

A judge on Wednesday charged well-known film director Benoit Jacquot with raping actresses Julia Roy and Isild Le Besco, prosecutors said, in a high-profile MeToo case that has rocked France. The charges followed a flood of allegations against several men in the French film industry, which critics say has served as a cover for abuse for too long.

Jacquot, 77, and another filmmaker, 80-year-old Jacques Doillon, were arrested for questioning on Monday. They are accused of sexually abusing much younger actresses who starred in their films. Both deny the charges.

Investigators opened an investigation after Judith Godreche, 52, filed a complaint against Jacquot earlier this year, alleging that he raped her during a multi-year relationship that began in the 1980s, when she was 14 and he was 25 years her senior. After two days of questioning, prosecutors did not seek charges related to Godreche’s allegations because they were time-barred, she and her lawyer said.

However, that was the case in the case of 34-year-old Roy and 41-year-old Le Besco. Roy, who starred in four of Jacquot’s films between 2016 and 2021, had accused Jacquot of sexual assault. Le Besco had accused him of rape during a toxic relationship that began when she was a minor and he was 52.

An investigating judge charged Jacquot with “marital rape” of Roy during a relationship in 2013, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. They also charged him with “rape of a minor” that took place against Le Besco between November 1, 1998, and November 21, 2000, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. She would have been 15 years old at the start of that period.

“Judicial annulment”

Jacquot will also be investigated for the alleged marital rape of Roy between 2014 and 2018 and of Le Besco in 2007, the public prosecutor’s office said.

He will be released from custody but will remain under judicial supervision. He is prohibited from contacting plaintiffs and witnesses or from carrying out activities “related to minors,” it said. He is not allowed to work as a film director or appear in public as such.

His lawyer Julia Minkowski announced that she would appeal the decision. “More than a professional ban, this is a real judicial annulment measure based on a preliminary investigation and before a verdict,” she said.

A source familiar with the case said Jacquot answered investigators’ questions but denied all allegations. Roy’s lawyer Margot Pugliese said the charges against Jacquot were “important” for her client, whose condition of post-traumatic stress disorder she described as “profound.” Le Besco’s lawyer Benjamin Chouai said he was glad that “the judiciary had grasped the exact extent of the suspected crimes.”

Another director fired

The other director, 80-year-old Doillon, was released on Tuesday evening “for medical reasons,” the public prosecutor’s office said. Further measures have yet to be decided.

This came despite mounting allegations against him. Godreche had accused Doillon of sexually harassing her during a film shoot when she was 15, when the filmmaker was in a relationship with British actress and singer Jane Birkin.

Le Besco claimed he made advances to her during work meetings, and another actress, 46-year-old Anna Mouglalis, claimed the filmmaker forcibly kissed her in 2011.

Lawyer Laure Heinich, representing Godreche, said: AFP She had also filed a complaint against Doillon on behalf of a non-binary trans person named Joe Rohanne for three alleged rapes and physical and psychological abuse.

Newspaper The World reported that this woman and two other women had taken action against Jacquot, accusing him of rape or attempted rape. Doillon’s lawyer declined to comment.

‘Heard’

Godreche said on Instagram that she felt “heard” after prosecutors filed charges against Jacquot, even though her own case did not yield any charges. Godreche has become a leading voice in France’s MeToo movement since coming out publicly. After pushing for an oversight body for the film industry, French lawmakers voted in May to set up a commission to investigate sexual and gender-based violence in the cultural sector.

Few cases have made it through the justice system. The head of France’s biggest film institution, Dominique Boutonnat, resigned on Friday and will serve a one-year prison sentence at home after being convicted of sexually abusing his godson in 2020. And screen icon Gerard Depardieu, 75, is due to stand trial in October on charges of sexually assaulting two women. He was also charged in 2020 with rape two years earlier. He denies all allegations.