French prosecutors said on Wednesday, February 7, they had opened an inquiry after actor Judith Godrèche filed a complaint against film director Benoît Jacquot, accusing him of raping her in a relationship that began when she was 14 and he was 25 years her senior.
Jacquot, one of France’s most prominent directors, denied the accusations in comments to Le Monde, which also interviewed Godrèche.
On Tuesday, 51-year-old Godrèche lodged a formal complaint with the police’s Juvenile Protection Brigade (BPM) of alleged rape of a minor by a person in a position of authority, her lawyer Laure Heinich told news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP).
On Wednesday, the Paris prosecutor’s office told AFP that a preliminary investigation had been opened, with the BPM in charge of the case. The announcement comes as French cinema is reeling from claims that the world of arts has shrugged off sexism and sexual abuse for decades.
Godrèche in January on social media accused Jacquot, now 77, of manipulating her into a relationship as a vulnerable underage actor. The crime is punishable by 20 years’ imprisonment, though the statute of limitations has “probably” expired in the case, Le Monde said.
The relationship began in the spring of 1986, when Godrèche was 14, and ended in the early 1990s. Godrèche said she remained “in his grip” for six years, starring in two films he directed, Les Mendiants (The Beggars) in 1988 and La Desenchantee (The Disenchanted) in 1990.
She decided to speak out after discovering him boasting about their relationship being a “transgression,” and cinema providing a “cover” for it, in a 2011 documentary. Jacquot, a director with more than 50 films and TV films to his name, has said he needs to be “in love” with his actresses to film them. He has worked with established stars such as Catherine Deneuve and Isabelle Huppert, as well as Godrèche, Virginie Ledoyen and Isild Le Besco as teenagers.
Godrèche was among those in 2017 to speak out against US movie producer Harvey Weinstein at the height of the #MeToo movement.
