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Adèle Haenel will face director Christophe Ruggia in court, where he is on trial, this Monday December 9 and Tuesday December 10, for sexual assault on a minor.
Five years after revelations which paved the way for the French #Metoo and shook up the world of cinema, Adèle Haenel will face director Christophe Ruggia in court, where he is on trial, this Monday, December 9 and Tuesday, December 10, for sexual assault on a minor .
Christophe Ruggia (59 years old), who contests the accusations, and Adèle Haenel (35 years old), civil party to the trial, will be present at the Paris criminal court at the opening of the hearing at the beginning of the afternoon, indicated their respective lawyers. Feminist associations have called for a rally outside at noon.
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Adèle Haenel: sexual assault, emotional blackmail… what the prosecution requires in the case between the actress and Christophe Ruggia
The “bubble” in which the director had gradually “isolated” her
Justice took up this matter in 2019, after an investigation by Mediapart into the facts denounced by the actress who has since withdrawn from cinema. Adèle Haenel was 11 years old during the casting of the film “Les Diables” by Christophe Ruggia and 12 years old during filming, in the summer of 2001. The feature film, excerpts of which should be broadcast at the trial, recounts the perpetual running away of a brother and his autistic sister abandoned at birth. A story that becomes incestuous, with several sex scenes between the children and close-ups of Adèle Haenel's naked body.
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To investigators, the actress had recounted these sequences which had made her “very uncomfortable”, others “violent” like the one where she had to dance in front of a prison to cries of “naked!” real inmates. And the “bubble” in which the director had gradually “isolated” her on the set, asking her family not to come so as not to distract her.
Several professionals described their “discomfort” with the working conditions imposed on children, and especially with the behavior of Christophe Ruggia on set. “Invasive”, “displaced”, “his hand on the thigh” of the young actress, “things in the neck”, she “sits on his knees”. “It’s not okay, it looks like a couple, it’s not normal,” a scriptwriter said to herself.
“He had his hand in my panties”
After filming, between 2001 and 2004, the teenager went “every Saturday” afternoon or almost to the man who told her he had “created” her. The attacks she denounces always took place in the same way: he sat on an armchair, she on the sofa and “very quickly” he found a pretext to get closer. He starts by caressing her thighs, goes up “like nothing”, then touches her sex or chest.
“He was breathing hard” and “kissing my neck,” she describes. And if she resisted, “he reacted in shock and with this look of 'no, but what are you going to believe?', while he had his hand in my panties.”
During the investigation, Christophe Ruggia will deny everything. The attacks, the declarations of love, the control. He will discuss the “sensuality” of the 12-year-old actress during filming. The “poses” that Adèle Haenel took on her sofa, her “tongue” movements, “worthy of a porn film”, which made him uncomfortable or even “disgusted” him. He struggled to explain what they were doing for several hours, all those Saturday afternoons. Will remember that he gave her “a snack” before taking her back to her parents. And will put the accusations down to “revenge” because he ultimately would not have made him work again.
Adèle Haenel has since officially retired from cinema
Adèle Haenel said she decided to speak publicly when she learned that Christophe Ruggia was preparing a new film with teenagers. But she had already recounted or mentioned these attacks years before to those around her personally and professionally, who testified to her discomfort and her anxiety attacks. She, who left her mark on the public in “Birth of Octopuses”, “120 Beats Per Minute” and especially in “Portrait of the Young Girl on Fire”, won two Césars, for best actress in “Les Combattants”, and for supporting role, in “Suzanne”.
She has since officially retired from cinema, ending a career which was turned upside down on the evening of the 2020 Caesars, when she left the ceremony with a bang to denounce the coronation of Roman Polanski, accused of sexual assault and rape by several women .
Christophe Ruggia, tried for sexual assault aggravated by the victim's minority and his position of authority, faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of 150,000 euros.
