#MeToo Arrives At French César Awards As Actress Judith Godrèche Makes Impassioned Speech For New Era Of Truth In French Film Biz: “The World Is Watching Us”
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Actress and director Judith Godrèche made an appeal at the French César Awards on Friday for a new era of truth around the issue of sexual abuse and harassment in France’s cinema world after decades of silence and denial.
“For some time now, voices have been unleashed, the idealized image of our fathers has been shattered, power almost seems to be in a state of turmoil, could it be possible for us to look at the truth in the eye?,” she said in scheduled address.
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“To take on our responsibilities? To be actors, actresses of a world that is questioning itself?, “ she asked. “For some time now, I’ve been talking and talking, but I can’t hear you, or only a little. Where are you? What are you saying? A whisper. Half a word.”
Her appearance at the César ceremony comes three weeks after the actress filed an official police complaint against director Benoît Jacquot for “rapes with violence of a minor less than 15-years-old” and Jacques Doillon for sexual assault. Both directors have denied the accusations.
The accusations date back to the late 1980s and early 1990s when Godrèche was in a relationship with Jacquot, which she says began when she was only 14 years old and he was 40.
Godrèche has said she was “under his influence” and that the relationship was wrong.
“It’s hard to stand here in front of all of you tonight. There are so many of you. Yet, in the end, I suppose it had to happen. Face to face with each other, looking into each other’s eyes,” she said.
Godrèche, who is now 51, lived with Jacquot for six years and appeared in his films The Beggars and The Disenchanted (for which she was nominated at the 1991 Césars for Best Promising Actress) before leaving him in her early 20s.
She went on to build a successful career as an actress at home and recently returned to France after a decade living in L.A., and has since made her TV directorial debut with the A24-backed drama series Icons Of French Cinema laying bare what happened to her as teenager.
“Many of you have seen me grow up. It’s impressive, it has an impact. When it comes down to it, I’ve never known anything other than cinema,” she continued.
“So, to reassure myself, I invented a little lullaby along the way. “My clasped arms, they’re you, all the little girls in the silence. My neck, my bent neck, it’s you, all the children in silence. My wobbly legs, they’re you, the young men who couldn’t defend themselves. My trembling but also smiling mouth is you, my unknown sisters.”
“After all, I too am a crowd. A crowd facing you. A crowd that is looking you in the eye tonight. It’s a funny moment for all of us, isn’t it? A returnee from the Americas has come to kick in the armored door. Who would have thought?”
Godrèche’s decision to break her silence comes amid a growing #MeToo moment in France which has also seen French acting icon Gérard Depardieu’s star fall in the wake of multiple accusations of sexual assault and one of rape, a development that has divided the French cinema world.
Godrèche said it was time for the French film industry to usher in an new era.
“Cinema is made up of our desire for truth. Films watch us as much as we watch them. It’s also made out of our need for humanity. No? So, why? Why allow this art that we love so much, this art that brings us together, to be used as a cover for the illicit trafficking of young girls?,” she said
“Because you must know that this loneliness, it’s mine but it’s also that of thousands in our society. It’s in your hands. We are in the spotlight. At the dawn of a new day. We can decide that men accused of rape should not be allowed to call the shots in cinema.”
“That, as they say, sets the tone. We can’t ignore the truth because it’s not our child, our son, our daughter. We can’t be at such a level of impunity, denial and privilege that morality goes right over our heads.”
The fact the César Academy and Canal+ France, which holds the broadcast rights and oversees the awards show, gave Godrèche the opportunity to make her speech at Friday night’s ceremony is a sign of how things are changing.
When Adèle Haenel walked out of the 2020 César Awards at protest over multiple awards for Roman Polanski for An Officer And A Spy including Best Director, she received little support from the wider cinema world for her action.
Just weeks previously, Haenel had become one of the first female actresses to publicly embrace #MeToo when she filed a complaint against director Christophe Ruggia, saying he had sexually harassed her when she was minor and acting in his films. He denies the accusation and the case is still ongoing.
Back in 2020, women’s rights activists were arguing that Polanski should not be celebrated at the Césars due to his outstanding 1977 statuary rape charge in the U.S. and a raft of other sexual assault allegations against him since, which he has denied.
The César Academy introduced new rules last year banning people with eligible films, who have been indicted for acts of violence, particularly of sexual nature, from being celebrated in any way by the awards, either publicly at the ceremony or privately behind the scenes.
But France’s late embrace of #MeToo may have come too late for Haenel, who announced last year, that she was withdrawing from the cinema world decrying its “general complacency” with regards to “sexual aggressors.”
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