2024-02-10 10:00:14
– She was 14, he was 39 – the story tears the French hearts apart
The actress Judith Godrèche was still a child when a famous director allegedly raped, beat and forced her into dependency.
Published today at 11:00 a.m
When Judith Godrèche was 14, she was cast in a film by Benoît Jacquot. The star director is said to have lived out his fantasies on her.
Photo: AFP
When Judith Godrèche speaks from the depths of her very early youth, and she does so everywhere, on all channels and in all newspapers in France, then she is still searching for the right words. As if she was just waking up following all these years. As if she was still afraid of the consequences of her story. It is the sad story of a child-woman, a teenage actress, who was allegedly abused by a famous, celebrated French film director. Controlled, beaten, raped. When she was 14. And he’s 39.
In the newspaper “Le Monde”, which is currently dedicating a series of long articles to the “Godrèche case”, she speaks of a “kidnapped childhood”. It tears the hearts of the French. And finally puts a mirror in front of French cinema, the rear-view mirror.
Judith Godrèche was born in Paris in 1972 as the daughter of two psychoanalysts. Her parents separated when she was eight. She became a model at an early age, but really wanted to become an actress. In those years, the eighties, it wasn’t so hopeless: the film “La Boum”, which was released in cinemas in 1980, was an incredible success. The main role in it was Sophie Marceau, who was 13 at the time. When Judith Godrèche was 14, she was cast in a film by Benoît Jacquot, an aspiring star director: he made auteur cinema, apparently intellectually.
The parents look away
Jacquot, says Godrèche, asked her on the first day if she had a boyfriend. Then he picks her up from school, goes to the cinema with her, takes her hand and places it on his sex. He tells her he is “perverted.” She later asks her father what “pervert” is. He explains things to her that she doesn’t understand. The parents look away, that’s the sad story within the sad story.
The girl soon moves in with the director, and he acts out his perversions on her, sadomasochism, beatings, lashes. Over time, he dictates to her what she can eat, how long her hair should be, and who she should meet. She makes films and becomes famous herself. In the media it is said that she is his “muse”.
You decide to buy an apartment. She pays half, with the money from her fees, which she shouldn’t have access to as a minor. Her parents sign a declaration giving her authority over their money. This goes on for six years, then they separate. Jacquot is said to have other “muses” following that, all young to very young. “Le Monde” also spoke to them. In general, many women are now finding the courage to talk. Most say they did not want Godrèche to stand alone with her testimony. #MeToo – much delayed. The allegations once morest Gérard Depardieu marked the start of this new wave.
Godrèche is now 51 – and Jacquot is 77. In “Le Monde” he also has his say, in great detail. He denies that there was violence in their relationship. It was love, he claims, “with consent.” It wasn’t she, the 14-year-old girl, who was in the submissive role, but him. At some point in all radio and TV programs there comes a moment when Godrèche is confronted with these statements. She then says: “Does a girl of 14 know what consent means?” She is also told that Jacquot is presumed innocent. She nods and smiles fragilely.
Director Benoît Jacquot denies the alleged attacks on Judith Godrèche. It was love – “with consent”.
Photo: AFP
Jacquot has always been open regarding his inclinations. In an interview in the magazine “Les Inrockuptibles” in 2006, for example, he said regarding Godrèche and his film “La Désenchantée”: “I give her the film – with a pact, of course: I give her the film and she gives herself completely to it “In fact, in every way you can think of.” In “La Vie,” 2011: “Desire is necessarily lawless.” He is “neurotically obsessed with youth.” And in “Libération”, 2015: “My work as a director is to get an actress to cross a threshold. (…) This is still best done in bed.”
Nobody was shocked. Benoît Jacquot was considered a great director and untouchable.
Godrèche lived in Los Angeles for a while. In 2017, she was among 93 actresses who accused film producer Harvey Weinstein. Godrèche has two children from two marriages. Daughter Tess is now 18 and accompanies her mother to the television studios. She also speaks, says Judith Godrèche, so that girls are warned so that they don’t allow themselves to be kidnapped like she did back then. She has also processed her story in a series: “Icon of French Cinema”, six episodes. She wrote it, directed it, acted in it. The name of her alleged tormentor is not mentioned. She only mentioned it a few weeks ago in an interview.
Investigations initiated
A few days ago she reported Jacquot – and the director Jacques Doillon as well. Doillon is also said to have sexually assaulted her when she was 15. He told his lawyer that he was vehemently defending himself once morest the allegations and would explain himself to the judiciary. The Paris public prosecutor’s office has opened investigations in both cases. And that’s probably just the beginning. “Le Parisien” is titled: “The end of the silent film”.
#MeToo casesOliver Meiler is a France correspondent. Previously he reported from Italy, Southeast Asia, Spain and once from France. He studied political science in Geneva. Author of the book “Agromafia” (dtv, 2021).More information@OliverMeiler
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