Europe 1 with AFP 3:26 p.m., February 8, 2024
The investigation into rape of a minor targeting director Benoît Jacquot, opened Wednesday after the complaint of actress Judith Godrèche, also targets filmmaker Jacques Doillon, AFP learned on Thursday from a source close to the matter. The actress has in fact filed a complaint against the two directors, her lawyer, Me Laure Heinich, confirmed to AFP. Both deny it.
The investigations, entrusted to the Minors Protection Brigade, concern "the offenses of rape of a minor under 15 years of age by a person in authority, rape, violence by a partner, and sexual assault of a minor over 15 years of age by a person in authority" , according to the public prosecutor.
“All of the facts denounced took place between 1986 and 1992,” said the same source. Thursday morning, the actress, interviewed on France Inter, reiterated her accusations. The facts she mentioned date back to the filming of “The 15-year-old girl”, released in 1989, and filmed when Judith Godrèche was 15 years old, and was in a relationship with Benoît Jacquot.
“I take off my sweater, I’m shirtless, he gropes me, makes out with me”
She recounted an intimate scene shot with Jacques Doillon, in the presence of Jane Birkin, who was then the director's partner. “All of a sudden, he decides that there is a love scene, a sex scene between him and me,” she said. “I take off my sweater, I'm shirtless, he gropes me, makes out with me,” she added.
“Jacques Doillon discovered these accusations this morning through the press,” his lawyer, Me Marie Dosé, told AFP. “He refutes them forcefully and is eager to explain himself in court,” she assured. For his part, Benoît Jacquot, 77 years old and a film expected soon, "firmly denies the allegations and accusations" in the newspaper Le Monde, which revealed Judith Godrèche's complaint. Asked by AFP on Wednesday, he indicated that he did not wish to react further, sticking to his statements.
New testimonies on the behavior of Benoît Jacquot
The actress and the filmmaker, 25 years her senior, began their relationship in the spring of 1986, when she was just 14 years old and taking her first steps in the cinema. They lived openly together, even buying an apartment in Paris, until their separation in 1992.
>> Find all the newspapers from the Europe 1 editorial team in replay and podcast here
On Thursday, Le Monde also published new testimonies on the behavior of Benoît Jacquot, author of “Farewell to the Queen” and “Diary of a Chambermaid”. The actress and screenwriter Julia Roy, who is 42 years younger than him and played in four of his films, denounces “verbal and physical violence”. The actress and director Isild Le Besco, who shot six films with Benoît Jacquot, speaks of “psychological or physical violence”.