It is an emblematic trial of the #MeToo wave in the cinema world which begins this Monday, March 24 for two days: that of the French actor Gérard Depardieu. He is tried for sexual assault on two women during the filming of the film Green shuttersin 2021. And, in the National Assembly, a commission of inquiry responsible for identifying the abuses and violence on the film sets plans to make its final report on April 9.
Since May 2024, in the National Assembly and the initiative of actress Judith Godrèche, A commission of inquiry is responsible for identifying the abuses and the violence of adults and minors on film sets and minorsnotably. The work of this commission is coming to an end. Members who are members have concrete proposals in mind to develop the legislative framework.
It was one of the highlights of the hearings led by the commission of inquiry. For an hour, on November 7, 2024, the French actress Sara Forestier testifies to the attack she suffered on a shoot in 2017. Trémolos in her voice, she accuses her play partner, actor Nicolas Duvauchelle, of having slapped her. The film of the film then dissuades it from initiating prosecution. “” We try to help but go to the police station, tells the actress. The panic team. They do not know how to manage this kind of situation. There is only one thing that takes up all the space, it is fear, compared to money and insurance. And so, immediately, we put the dust under the carpet and the victim must cash. The actress has since submitted a complaint, the actor denies the facts.
Comedians, directors or producers: in six months, the commission of inquiry questioned nearly a hundred actors in cinema, theater, but also advertising. At the time of the conclusion of the debates, the environmental member Sandrine Rousseau, president of the commission, draws up a contrasting assessment: “ On the one hand there is the experience of people victims who relate recurring facts and on the other side, a world of cinema which understands the issues, but which is still quite blind to the reality of the experiences of people. »»
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The use of privacy coordinators
Blindness and failures. Concrete example, the hearing of director Catherine Corsini on January 27. Verbal violence against him, accusations of sexual assault against a stuntman … In 2022, The shooting of his film The return is chaotic. Added to this is a sexual scene involving a minor actress, not declared to the committee of children’s children. Before the Commission, the director explains: ” I told myself that they agreed. It made them laugh. We did it quickly and it went well. But I admit that we shouldn’t have done it, I recognize it. “MP Sandrine Rousseau intervenes:” If there is an intimacy coach, it simplifies everything. “Catherine Corsini, replied:” At the time, I did not yet have in mind that the use of an intimacy coach could enter into practices. I thought that intimacy was the director who had it with the actors. »»
The intimacy coordinator is a kind of mediator between the director and his actors who supervise the intimate scenes. A profession still largely unknown in France which accuses, moreover, a certain delay in this area. In 2024, there were only four intimacy coordinators in France, compared to almost a hundred across the Atlantic. In addition, they are not compulsory on the sets. So, this is one of the priorities identified by the Commission and its president, Sandrine Rousseau: “ The intimacy coordinators are really among the people who are missing in the shootings. We have to know exactly what will be turned, mounted, what we will remember as a plan is absolutely essential “, Press the MP.
Indispensable, to the point of appearing prominently in the commission’s final report, explains its general rapporteur, MP MoDem, Erwan Balanant: “ It is necessary to make systematic the fact that the intimacy coordinators are proposed and that they are compulsory if one of the two protagonists wishes that there is an intimacy coordinator. One of the many proposals of the final report published on April 9 and which will lead, perhaps, to a bill.
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