French film director Jacquot accused of raping two actors

PARIS: A judge on Wednesday filed charges against well-known film director Benoit Jacquot in a sensational MeToo case that has shaken France. Prosecutors say he raped actors Julia Roy and Isild Le Besco.

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 launched an investigation after 52-year-old Judith Godreche 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 file charges against Godreche’s allegations because they were time-barred, she and her lawyer said.

But in the case of 34-year-old Roy and 41-year-old Le Besco, it was.

Roy, who appeared in four of Jacquot’s films released 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” with Roy during a relationship in 2013, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.

Le Besco was also accused of “raping a minor” between November 1, 1998, and November 21, 2000, the Paris public prosecutor’s office said.

At the beginning of this period she would have been 15 years old.

– ‘Court cancellation’ –

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 said she would appeal the decision.

“This is more than a professional ban. It is a genuine judicial annulment measure based on a preliminary investigation and before any verdict is pronounced,” 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 pleased that “the judiciary had grasped the exact extent of the alleged crimes.”

– Another director released –

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 happened despite increasing allegations against him.

Godreche had accused Doillon of sexually harassing her during a film shoot when she was 15. At the time, the filmmaker was in a relationship with British actress and singer Jane Birkin.

Le Besco had 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, who represents Godreche, told 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.

The newspaper Le Monde reported that this and two other women had filed a lawsuit 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 had not resulted in charges.

Since her public appearance, 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 cultural sector.

In rare cases the justice system was passed through.

The head of France’s largest cinema 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, will go on trial in October for allegedly sexually harassing two women. In 2020, he was also charged with rape two years earlier. He denies all allegations.

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