Renowned director, targeted by the #MeToo wave in French cinema, accused of rape and assault on actors

PARIS — A prominent French director has been charged with rape, sexual assault and battery by a French judge investigating a case involving actresses, the Paris prosecutor's office announced Thursday.

Benot Jacquot, who has made more than 50 film and television appearances since the 1970s, has become one of the most prominent figures in the A late assessment within the French film industry and beyond sexual violence and physical abuse.

French actress Judith Godrche, who accuses Jacquot of raping and physically assaulting her during a six-year relationship that began when she was 14, played a leading role by kicking off the #MeToo waveThe movement struggled to gain traction before she spoke out publicly earlier this year and encouraged others to do the same.

The Paris prosecutor's office said the investigating judge investigating allegations against Jacquot by actress Isild Le Besco and another actor whose name The Associated Press is not giving served him with a series of preliminary charges Wednesday after he was arrested earlier this week for questioning by police. In France, such charges are filed when a magistrate determines there is serious, accumulating evidence that crimes may have been committed, allowing the investigation to continue before deciding whether to prosecute.

The AP does not typically identify victims of sexual assault. Le Besco, 41, has spoken publicly on French television and other media outlets and in a book about her relationship with the director that began when she was a teenager and who is 35 years her senior.

A statement from the prosecutor's office said Jacquot was charged with the alleged rape of Le Besco when she was a minor, over a two-year period starting in 1998. Jacquot was also designated as an assisted witness, a special status under French law, for the alleged rape of Le Besco by a partner over a 10-month period in 2007.

The AP could not confirm whether the other actor named by Paris prosecutors as another alleged victim of Jacquot's rape would agree to be publicly identified. The actor's lawyer, Margot Pugliese, did not immediately respond to written and telephone requests for comment.

Prosecutors said Jacquot was accused of allegedly raping the actress over a year in 2013 while they were a couple. He was also charged with allegedly sexually assaulting the actress while they were still together in 2018 and allegedly beating her up in 2018 and 2019.

Jacquot was also cited as an assisting witness for the alleged rape of this actor by a partner from 2014 to 2018, the prosecution said.

The prosecution said Jacquot will be held at liberty pending further investigation, but will have to undergo psychological treatment. He is also prohibited from contacting his alleged victims and witnesses. He also cannot work as a director or in any capacity with minors. He was also ordered to pay bail of €25,000.

The 77-year-old director has previously denied the accusations against him. In a statement that did not directly address the charges against him, Jacquot's lawyer Julia Minkowski said the case had suffered from media overexposure and that the director had not been given access to evidence during his police interrogation, even though French law allows this in cases of flagrant violation of the presumption of innocence.

“The investigation is at an embryonic stage and it was particularly premature to present it before an investigating judge,” the lawyers' statement said.

She denounced Jacquot's ban on working as a director, which also includes restrictions on his public appearances.

“More than a professional ban, this is a genuine measure of judicial annulment, based on an embryonic investigation and before any judgment. We will obviously appeal,” she said.

Another French director, Jacques Doillon, 80, was also arrested by police but was later released on medical grounds, the Paris prosecutor's office said.

Godrche accused Doillon of sexually abusing her while he was making a film when she was 15. Doillon has previously denied the accusation.