The actress Judith Godrèche made an appearance at the César to denounce sexist and sexual violence in a vibrant speech.
It was a speech eagerly awaited by all observers of French cinema. Announced for a time, it was not assured that Judith Godreche travels to the Olympia for the Césars. But the 51-year-old actress did make a notable and applauded appearance this Friday, February 23 to denounce the sexist and sexual violence that plagues the world of cinema.
After a standing ovation, Judith Godrèche, visibly very moved, returned to sexist and sexual violence in the world of cinema by questioning the silence of the profession about being blacklisted: “Films watch us as much as we do them. let’s look. It is also made of our need for humanity. Why accept that this art is used as a cover for trafficking in young girls?” before insisting: “We can decide that men accused of rape cannot make all the noise in the cinema. This time, it will not happen like that.”
Since the start of 2024, Judith Godrèche has become a figure of a French MeToo and a renewed awareness in the cinema sector. The 51-year-old actress filed a complaint against directors Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon on February 6.
Accusations against Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon
Judith Godrèche accuses the first, with whom she had a “relationship” for six years from the age of 14 (Benoît Jacquot was 39) of “violent rape of a minor under 15”. She denounces a “control” and a perversion exercised by the director of Farewell to the Queen and The Disenchanted, as well as sometimes brutal sexual relations with the filmmaker. Benoît Jacquot denies the accusations and speaks, for his part, of a “loving” relationship “devoid, according to him, of brutality and predation”.
Judith Godrèche also filed a complaint against the director Jacques Doillon for “rape of a 15-year-old minor by a person in authority”. She denounced, at the microphone of Fance Inter last February, two attacks, one of which allegedly took place “in Jane Birkin’s house”, and the other on the set of the film The 15-year-old girl. “All of a sudden, he decides that there is a love scene, a sex scene between him and me,” she explains on France Inter. “I take off my sweater, I’m shirtless, he gropes me, makes out with me”, in 45 takes. Jacques Doillon formally denied this and announced his desire to file a complaint for “defamation”. In the wake of Judith Godrèche, other actresses have also denounced these two directors, notably Isild Le Besco and Anna Mouglalis.