Judith Godrèche accused administrators Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon of abuse together with rape.
French actor Judith Godrèche referred to as on France’s movie business to “face the truth” on sexual violence and bodily abuse all through a are living broadcast Friday of the Cesar Awards rite, France’s model of the Oscars.
“We can make a decision that males accused of rape now not rule the (French) cinema,” Godrèche stated.
Godrèche was invited to speak on sexual violence at the ceremony after actors alleged they were teenage victims of sexual abuse by directors decades older than themselves, shining a light on the repulsive underside of the country’s industry.
“Is it possible that we are able to face the truth?” Godrèche said during an emotional speech to a hushed audience.
“With the same moral strength that we use to be creative, let’s have the courage to say out loud what we know quietly,” she said, and added later, “The power seems to be swaying.”
The audience stayed silent until the end of her appearance, but then erupted into thunderous applause in a standing ovation.
Her speech comes as French cinema is expected to shine next month at the Oscars ceremony with Justine Triet’s courtroom drama “Anatomy of a Fall.”
Triet on Friday became the second female film director in the Cesar Award’s 49-year history to win the Best Director award for “Anatomy of a Fall,” which also won best film, original screenplay, actress for Sandra Huller, supporting actor and editing,
Godrèche, 51, is well known to French cinemagoers. She recently accused two film directors of rape and sexual abuse when she was a teenager. She formally filed a complaint earlier this month, the Paris prosecutor said.
She is accusing film director Benoît Jacquot, with whom she had a six-year relationship that started when she was 14, of rape and physical abuse. Jacquot, a prominent director in France, is 25 years her senior.
She is also accusing another film director, Jacques Doillon, of sexual abuse while he was directing a film when she was 15. Doillon is 28 years older than her.
Both Jacquot and Doillon have denied the allegations.
Speaking on France Inter radio earlier this month, Godrèche said that she was never attracted to Jacquot, “but I ended up with him, in his bed, and I was his child wife.” Godrèche and Jacquot met in 1986 on the set of his film “The Beggars.”
“I was indoctrinated, it was as if I’d joined a cult,” she said. The relationship was marred by violence, confinement and control, she said.
Hours before the ceremony, French cultural minister Rachida Dati criticised the country’s cinema for “collectively turning a blind eye for decades” to sexual violence. She hailed Godrèche’s courage to speak out and for sharing her traumatic experience.
Judith Godrèche has spoken of her pain in simple terms, Dati said. “She stated, I used to be a kid. You noticed the whole lot and no person stated anything else,” the cultural minister stated in an interview with The French Film mag. She added: “This should be the beginning of profound soul searching for French cinema.”
“There is no impunity in the name of art,” Dati stated. “Creative freedom is total, but we are not talking about art here, but about a crime against a child,” she added. “Having a sexual relationship with a child under 15, is a crime.”
Godrèche had up to now spoken about her dating with Jacquot, with out naming him, in an autobiographical tv display referred to as “Icon of French Cinema” that was once launched in December.
ADVERTISEMENTShe was once a few of the actors who spoke out in 2017 in opposition to US movie manufacturer Harvey Weinstein amid the #MeToo motion, accusing him of sexual attack when she was once 24.
Jacquot informed the Le Monde newspaper that he “doesn’t feel directly concerned” by means of Godrèche’s accusations, with whom he stated he fell in love on the time. He denied any abuse of authority.
In a commentary to world information company Agence France-Presse, Doillon stated “the just cause doesn’t justify arbitrary denunciations, false accusations and lies.”
Following Godrèche’s accusations, different ladies made up our minds to talk out.
Isild Le Besco, 41, accused Jacquot of “psychological and physical violence” in a dating with him that started when she was once 16 and he was once 52. She additionally accused Doillon of getting picked any individual else for a job she was once meant to get as a result of she refused his sexual advances.
ADVERTISEMENTAnother actor, Anna Mouglalis, 45, accused Doillon of sexual attack in 2011.
The French movie business previous was once shaken by means of sexual misconduct accusations in opposition to actor Gérard Depardieu.
In 2020, protests by means of ladies’s rights activists have been staged all through the Cesar Awards rite as director Roman Polanski gained, in absentia, the Best Director award. Actor Adèle Haenel, who denounced alleged sexual attack by means of some other French director within the early 2000s when she was once 15, were given up and walked out of the room.
Polanski continues to be sought after within the United States a long time after he was once charged with raping a 13-year-old woman in 1977.
