The case resurfaced last November. Guest of the show “Quotidien” on TMC, Sara Forestier returned for the first time to the reasons for her prolonged absence from film sets. Without naming Nicolas Duvauchelle, she revealed that she had been the victim of a physical attack on the set of “Bonhomme” in 2017, an incident which led her to leave the film and file a complaint.
“We often joke about damaged women saying that they are crazy”
“I needed to take a few years to rebuild myself because I was hit by an actor on a film“, explained the actress. “JI went to the police station, I left the film. We talk very little about this for women: trauma. (…) We must take the time to rebuild ourselves. I filed a complaint.” Her departure from the project had pushed the production to entrust her role to Ana Girardot, while Sara Forestier had moved away from the world of cinema to overcome her trauma. “Trauma is not taken into account in cinema. We often joke about damaged women saying that they are crazy.“
Shortly after Sara Forestier's statements, Nicolas Duvauchelle reacted via a story on Instagram, to categorically deny the actress' accusations: “Let this be clear to all the pseudo cardboard vigilantes… I never touched Sara Forestier. Several witnesses were present, including the director, and an investigation was carried out by the justice system.e”, he wrote. The actor, known for his roles in the series “Braquo” or “Fortune de France”, also denounced a relentlessness against him: “Please respect the truth and not your fantasies.“
According to information reported at the time of filming by “Voici”, Sara Forestier, presented as “drunk with rage“, would have insulted Nicolas Duvauchelle before hitting him with a “violent slap“. In November of the same year, the actress spoke in “Paris Match” to deliver her version of the facts. She claimed to have been the real victim of the altercation: “What was very hard was that in reality, it was me who took the slap“, she declared, before adding: “But some people wanted me to say what really happened, and the incident was turned against me.”
“When someone is capable of lying once, what is his word worth?”
This Tuesday, December 3, Sara Forestier responded from the set of “À l'air libre”, the weekly Mediapart show, by announcing that she will file a complaint against Nicolas Duvauchelle for defamation. Determined to make her version of the facts heard, the actress strongly criticizes the comments made by the actor, pointing out the inconsistencies that she perceives in his statements. “In the report he himself says: 'I pushed Sara's face away with my hand.' Okay. We'll keep it very simple, (…) he hits the window, he hits a chair, what's the story, is it 'Matrix'? when he comes close to my face, suddenly he becomes soft? In this case, we will also say that he gave me a caress!
The actress, rewarded with a César for her role in “The Name of People”, also highlights the conditions in which she left the set: “In front of everyone, and it is in the report, I say this sentence: 'He slapped me, you take me immediately to the police station'. This actor subsequently remained on the film. I left, so he had plenty of time to mix with these people, to continue to feed his version of the facts.” she emphasizes. “But I know exactly what I experienced, I said it the same day, I said it in my hand, since I was immediately at the police station, and I said it again there, when I filed a complaint against him, period.“
As for the accusations according to which she herself slapped Nicolas Duvauchelle, Sara Forestier categorically refutes: “He says in a tweet that I would have slapped him, while in front of the police in the report, he says that I never touched him… When someone is capable of lying once, what is his word worth?“, she argues. “I am filing a defamation complaint, the complaint is currently being drafted. I won't let anything pass“.
