A new crucial step in the affair that has been shaking French cinema for several months. Filmmakers Benoît Jacquot, 77, and Jacques Doillon, 80, were summoned this Monday morning to the Brigade for the Protection of Minors in Paris to be placed in police custody.
This measure comes as part of the investigation opened following complaints filed by several actresses, including Judith Godrèche, for acts of sexual violence.
Serious accusations dating back several decades
The case broke out last February when actress Judith Godrèche filed a complaint against Benoît Jacquot for the rape of a 15-year-old minor and against Jacques Doillon for sexual assault. The actress, now 52, accuses Benoît Jacquot of having abused her starting in 1986, when she was only 14 and he was 39. She denounces a relationship of “grip” and of “perversion” which would have lasted until 1992.
Regarding Jacques Doillon, Judith Godrèche accuses him of having “groped” while filming an unplanned sex scene in 1989, when she was 15.
Other actresses have also filed complaints or testified against the two directors. Isild Le Besco accuses Benoît Jacquot of raping a minor between 1998 and 2007, while Julia Roy denounces sexual assaults on his part. Anna Mouglalis claims to have been forcibly kissed by Jacques Doillon in 2011.
Police custody contested by lawyers
The police custody of the two filmmakers was strongly criticized by their respective lawyers. Julia Minkowski, who is defending Benoît Jacquot, said: “I deplore all of these dysfunctions of justice, thanks to excessive media coverage which leads to unacceptable excesses.” She believes that “a free hearing should have been decided.”
For her part, Me Marie Dosé, lawyer of Jacques Doillon, considers this measure “unnecessary, disproportionate and indecent.” She argues that her client “should have been heard in the context of a free hearing in view of the age of the facts, their statute of limitations acquired for more than two decades, and the inevitable dismissal without further action which will close this investigation.”
A case that shakes French cinema
This case is part of a broader movement to free speech in the French cinema world. It notably led to the resignation of Dominique Boutonnat as head of the National Centre for Cinema (CNC) last Friday, following his conviction for sexual assault.
Judith Godrèche, who broke her silence, reacted on Instagram to the police custody of the two directors: “I cry. I don’t know if I have the strength but I will have it. I will have it, I will have it.”
