French actress Judith Godrèche claims she was raped when she was 15 by director Benoît Jacquot

Efe Paris

Paris

Updated Wednesday, February 7, 2024-13:44

French actress

Judith Godrèche

reported that she was raped in the 1980s, when she was 15, by director

Benoît Jacquot,

who was 39 at the time, and that she denies the accusations because according to her version it was a consensual relationship.

The complaint, according to what the newspaper Le Monde published this Wednesday and what the same interpreter has revealed on social networks, was presented on Tuesday by her lawyer to the police minor protection brigade.

For her, it is a way to break the silence regarding Jacquot's actions, since the events will have expired. With the latest legal reform of 2021, in France sexual abuse against a minor can be prosecuted up to 30 years after reaching the age of majority if the victim reports it.

Godrèche, who is currently 51 years old, claims that the testimonies of rape and abuse suffered by other actresses, including some confessions by Jacquot himself, heir to the "nouvelle vague", have led him to sue the director of films such as 'Les mendiants' or 'Sade'.

The relationship between the two was born during the filming of

'Les mendiants'

(released in 1988), which is the actress's feature film debut. Its existence was already publicly known: in an interview the director had even boasted about it and admitted that it possibly had not been legal, given the age difference between the two.

But Godrèche now wanted to emphasize that it was a relationship marked by the authority that the adult, in addition to being a film director, had over the minor, who for her part wanted to make a career in the seventh art, and also that it was full of abuse and violence. .

The actress also charges against the entire film world, which knew of the director's practices, which according to her he repeated with other minors, and that nothing was done to prevent it.

"Everything was known. And they are at the helm" of current cinema, says the interpreter, who has worked with directors such as

Olivier Assayas, Édouardo Molinaro, Cédric Klapisch and François Ozon

.

Godrèche narrates how little by little the director imposed his influence: "It was like the story of children who are kidnapped and who grow up without seeing the world and who do not come to think badly of their kidnappers. I would have liked Benoît to agree to be my friend, that he didn't want my body. It soon disgusted me."

The actress says that, over time, the violence increased: "The last year became absolute hell. He was violent, he hit me."

In statements to Le Monde, Jacquot, who is now 77 years old, assured that he does not feel worried "by this story" and clarified that the relationship between the two was "one of lovers."

"She had a decisive, extremely favorable role, which clarified my life. I was suffering, I didn't want to make more films and

she pulled me out of the hole

," said the director, who went so far as to say that "it was she who had (him) dominated." for six years" and that "if he hadn't left, they would still be together.

Jacquot specified that the first sexual relationship was when she was 15 years old, which was then considered the minimum age for a sexual relationship not to be a crime. She also said that at no time did she feel "the slightest sign of disapproval" from the actress, whom she now reproaches for seeking "notoriety" to promote a series in which she stars.