French police question directors Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon

Judith Godrèche at the Césars 2024.

Julien M. Hekimian/Getty Images

French police have questioned directors Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon over allegations of sexual assault by actress and activist Judith Godrèche.

Godrèche filed charges against Jacquot and Doillon in February, accusing both men of sexual harassment in alleged incidents decades ago, when she was a teenager. She accused Jacquot of raping her in 1986, when she was 14, and of later assaults in a romantic relationship that lasted into the 1990s. She accused Doillon of sexually harassing her during the filming of his 1989 feature film “The Last Man.” The 15-year-old girlin which she played the leading role. Both men deny the allegations.

French media reported on Monday that both men had been taken into custody and were being questioned by the Paris branch of the French Brigade for the Protection of Minors.

When Godrèche made the allegations public, it helped reignite the French #MeToo movement. The filmmaker, a former teen idol, became the face of the movement, speaking before the French Parliament and Senate and advocating for the creation of a government commission to investigate sex crimes and sexism in French cinema.

In another high-profile #MeToo case, Dominique Boutonnat, the head of the powerful French film body CNC, was found guilty of sexually abusing his 19-year-old godson.