On February 6, local time, French actress Judith Godrèche targeted two well-known French directors, Jacques Doillon and Benoît Jacquot, within one day. The accusation of rape will also climax a new round of anti-sexual assault movement in the French entertainment industry that started against Gérard Depardieu.
Judith Godreche
The 41-year-old Judith Godreche made her debut as a child star. She started acting in movies when she was less than 14 years old. When she was 15 years old, she met director Benoit Jacques, who was 25 years older than her. They started living together and served as the second female lead in "Beggars" directed by the other party. Later, in 1990's "No Longer Enchanted", the two collaborated again, with Godresh starring for the first time and receiving a César Award nomination for Best Newcomer. Shortly thereafter, at the age of 19, she became one of the judges of the 41st Berlin Film Festival. After that, she participated in blockbuster films such as "The Red and the Black", "The Man in the Iron Mask" and "The Spanish Apartment", successfully gaining recognition from overseas movie fans, and cross-border publishing of novels and records.
In 2023, Judith Godreche transformed into a director and completed the drama "Icon of French Cinema", which she wrote, directed and acted in. During the roadshow to promote her new work at the end of the year, she accepted an interview with the media and talked for the first time about the six years of living together with Benoit Jacques when she was young. She admitted that she regretted what she did back then, and also criticized French society for this kind of romance and practicality. For the long-term condoning of pedophile practices.
Judith Godreche and Benoit Jacques
Godreche said that it was only after her daughter entered puberty that she suddenly realized that there was a big problem in her love life during her teenage years. "If a 40-year-old man approached my daughter now, I would kill him... Because now I have a daughter who is in puberty, and I realized what happened to me back then was... I Completely alone, wandering for many years in a world without rules and laws."
Later, she posted several posts on her personal social media account, revealing that Benoit Jacques had threatened to sue her for defamation. Go to court and draw everyone's attention to a documentary filmed in 2011 "les ruses du désir: l'interdit" (les ruses du désir: l'interdit), because Benoit Jacques was interviewed in the film and personally admitted: "This is absolutely It was illegal... a girl like her, Judith, who was only 15, and I was 40... but so what? I didn't care, and I think it turned her on very much, too. In fact, To a certain extent, making movies has become a cover for me."
Two days later, Godresh was interviewed by a TV show again. He frankly said that after watching this interview, he felt very sick and wanted to vomit. "Seeing myself turned into an object and being talked about like an object by someone makes me feel sick and panicked. There is no such thing as consensual love. For a 14-year-old minor, there is no such thing. What about consensual love? Sleeping with a 40-year-old man when you are 14 is not going to excite you."
Jacques Duvallon and Judith Godreche in "Girl 15"
Almost a month later, Judith Godreche said in a radio interview that she was raped twice by director Jacques Duvallon when she was 15 years old. At that time, the two were working together on the film "Girl of 15". The latter was 28 years older than her, and the rape took place between Jacques Duvallon and his then-girlfriend Jane Birkin. Shared home. "He suddenly fired the actor who was supposed to play opposite me. He said he wanted to play the role himself. Then, suddenly there was a sex scene that was not in the script, and it was shot 45 times."
2 On March 7, the Paris Prosecutor's Office announced that it would launch a preliminary investigation into these two complaints. The specific work will be handled by the Minors Protection Team under the Prosecutor's Office. The investigation will involve "the crime of rape of minors under the age of 15." The attorneys representing the two directors respectively stated that the parties involved were not at fault and were willing to defend their innocence in court.
The 77-year-old Benoit Jacques has been nominated for the main competition of the three major film festivals Cannes, Berlin and Venice seven times, especially "No Scandal", "Flawless Color" and "False" with Isabelle Huppert. She is famous for films such as "Entourage" and "The Wings of the Dove", and is also the director who has collaborated with this Cannes and Venice double Best Actress most times.
Benoit Jacques (left) is the director with whom Isabelle Huppert (right) has collaborated the most. The picture shows the two of them in the scene of the film "Villa Amalia"
As for the upcoming eighty-year-old in March this year Jacques Duvallon, who is celebrating his birthday, is even more famous in France and even the global film industry than Benoit Jacques. His works have competed in the main competition sections of the three major film festivals, Cannes, Berlin and Venice, 11 times. Among them, the 1996 "Little Lone Star" is the most praised by movie fans.
However, this type of sexual assault lawsuit has always been difficult to obtain definite evidence because it occurred so long ago, making it very difficult to finalize the case. Earlier, French actress Hélène Darras accused Depardieu of sexually assaulting her while filming the 2007 movie "Disco." Spanish female journalist Ruth Baza also complained to Spanish prosecutors that Depardieu sexually assaulted her during an interview in Paris in 1995. As a result, both cases were dismissed by the Paris prosecutor because they exceeded the French statute of limitations. Currently, only the sexual assault lawsuit filed by actress Charlotte Arnould in 2018 is still under investigation, but it seems that the situation is not favorable to the prosecution.
