French authorities have detained two important artistic film directors, Benoit Jacquot and Jacques Doillon, on accusations of sexual abuse, at a time when a new #MeToo reckoning is shaking the French film industry.
Jacquot, 77, and Doillon, 80, arrived at a Paris police station on Monday morning, accompanied by their lawyers, according to the AFP news agency.
The detention of the filmmakers over alleged abuses, some dating back to the 1980s and all of which they deny, comes at a time when activists say French cinema has long provided cover for abuse.
Earlier this year, Judith Godreche, a 52-year-old actress and director, formally accused Jacquot of rape and Doillon of sexual assault when she was a minor, accusations that both men deny.
Godreche described Jacquot as having an unhealthy “dominance” over her during a “perverted” relationship with him that began when she was 14, from 1986 to 1992.
She also accused Doillon of “putting his fingers down” in her “panties” during a screen test for one of her films when she was 15 and still with Jacquot.
Several other actors also filed complaints against the two men.
Isild Le Besco, 41, alleged that Jacquot raped her between 1998 and 2007 during a relationship that began when she was 16 and he was 52.
Julia Roy, a 34-year-old actress who has appeared in several of his films, accused him of sexual assault in a “context of violence and moral embarrassment that lasted several years,” said a source close to the case.
Le Besco also claimed that Doillon made advances during work sessions, while actress Anna Mouglalis alleged that the filmmaker forcibly kissed her in 2011.
‘I’m crying’
Judicial sources say the two filmmakers could be detained until Tuesday night and potentially interrogated in the presence of their accusers.
The directors’ lawyers stated that there was no need to detain them for questioning and that they should be considered innocent until proven guilty.
Jacquot’s lawyer, Julia Minkowski, said that her client “will finally be able to express himself before the law”, denouncing what she called the “unacceptable excesses” of media coverage of the matter.
Doillon’s lawyer, Marie Dose, said no legal criteria could justify his detention for questioning “36 years” after the incident alleged by Godreche, and that he could have answered questions without being held in custody.
The prosecution confirmed the detention of the two men, but added that both were presumed innocent for now.
Godreche on Instagram said she was deeply moved. “I’m crying,” she wrote.
“I don’t know if I have the strength, but I will. I will have this… For her,” she wrote, posting a photo of herself as a teenager next to Jacquot, who is 25 years her senior.
Since breaking her silence, Godreche has become a leading voice in the #MeToo movement in France.
After calling for the creation of a cinema oversight body, French lawmakers voted in May in favor of creating a commission to investigate sexual and gender-based violence in the film industry and other cultural sectors.
Last week, the head of France’s main film institution, Dominique Boutonnat, resigned from his position after being convicted of sexually assaulting his godson in 2020.
Boutonnat was sentenced to three years in prison, two of them suspended. He could, however, serve a sentence of one year in prison at home wearing an electronic bracelet.
Film legend Gerard Depardieu, 75, will also stand trial in October for sexually assaulting two women.
He is at risk of a second trial after being accused in 2020 of raping an actress in 2018, when she was 22 years old.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
