Actress Judith Godrèche, spearhead of MeToo in France, deplored on Wednesday having never been contacted by “people of power” in the cinema since she accused filmmakers Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon of rape.
“There is not a person from my past who has an established place in cinema society – therefore, in quotes, power – there is not a person of power who wrote to me since I spoke”, regretted the 52-year-old actress before the commission of inquiry of French deputies into sexual violence in cinema.
According to Ms. Godrèche, “this silence says a lot”. “He also perhaps says: ‘I’m afraid’. He says: ‘I don’t want to lose my place’. He says: ‘me too, I have to slalom (…) so as not to lose my place take a pole and also be pushed to the back of the procession'”.
At the start of the year, Judith Godrèche sparked an explosion by accusing director Benoît Jacquot, 25 years her senior, of rape, with whom she had a relationship when she was 14. She made similar accusations against Jacques Doillon. Investigations are ongoing and both filmmakers dispute these allegations.
Since these positions, “the only people from this past who have reached out to me are people who (…) are, as they say, anonymous, in any case who do not have the power or who have nothing to lose ( …), who are no longer in this environment”said Ms. Godrèche.
Ms. Godrèche, whose short film “Me Too” was screened at the last Cannes Film Festival, also said that she hoped “to be able to continue living” in the cinema world but expressed her resignation.. “This system crushes the resistance”she said.
Judith Godrèche testified Wednesday in reaction to the statements the day before by Serge Toubiana, an influential personality in French cinema, affirming before this same commission that he was unaware of her relationship with Benoît Jacquot.
Former boss of the Cinémathèque and ex-editor-in-chief of Cahiers du cinéma, Mr. Toubiana said he was not aware of this “intimate” relationship, before admitting that he was “of course” informed of it, having received at the time the “couple” at dinner.
In front of the deputies, Ms. Godrèche accused Mr. Toubiana, who was close to Mr. Jacquot, of “having lied under oath“. “He knew, everyone knew, he better than anyone”, she declared.
Judith Godrèche accusation cinema French cinema
