French police question two film-makers over alleged sexual abuse
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Benoit Jacquot (left) and Jacques Doillon spent the night at a police station after being summoned for questioning.
PHOTOS: AFP
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PARIS – Two leading art house film directors were questioned by the French authorities for a second day after actresses accused them of sexual abuse, a source close to the case said.
Benoit Jacquot, 77, and Jacques Doillon, 80, spent the night at a Paris police station after being summoned for questioning on July 1 morning.
Both men have denied all charges.
Their interrogation over the alleged abuse of much younger actresses, including in the 1980s and in several instances when they were underage, comes as activists say French cinema has, for too long, provided cover for abuse.
Investigators opened a probe after actress and director Judith Godreche, 52, earlier in 2024 officially accused Jacquot of rape during a relationship with him that started when she was 14 and he was 25 years older.
She also filed a complaint against Doillon over sexual assault during a film shoot when she was 15.
Several others have since come forward with similar allegations.
Actress and film-maker Isild Le Besco, 41, has filed a complaint alleging rape
Le Besco has also alleged that Doillon made advances during work sessions, while actress Anna Mouglalis, 46, alleged the film-maker forcefully kissed her in 2011.
Jacquot and Doillon’s lawyers have objected to their clients being detained for questioning, saying they could have answered questions as free men, and stressed that they remained innocent until proven guilty.
They could be held for up to 48 hours from their initial detention from the morning of July 1.
Since breaking her silence, Godreche has become a leading voice in France’s #MeToo movement.
After she appealed for the creation of a cinema oversight body, French lawmakers in May voted to create a commission to investigate sexual and gender-based violence in the film industry and other cultural sectors.
The head of France’s top cinema institution Dominique Boutonnat stepped down on June 28 after he was convicted of sexually assaulting his godson in 2020.
Boutonnat was given a three-year prison sentence, with two of the three years suspended. He will be able to serve his one-year jail term at home wearing an electronic bracelet.
Cinema legend Gerard Depardieu, 75, put his career on hold last autumn after a string of accusations against him, all of which he denies.
He is to stand trial in October for sexually assaulting two women, and also risks a second trial after he was charged in 2020 with the rape of an actress in 2018 when she was 22 and anorexic. AFP
