The French actress, screenwriter, director and writer, who filed a complaint against the directors Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon, in particular for rape of a minor, requested, among other things, on Thursday, the creation of a commission of inquiry into the violence sexist and sexual in the cinema industry.
“Everyone knows, everyone knew.” Heard by the Senate women’s rights delegation on Thursday February 29, actress Judith Godrèche denounced the silence on sexual and gender-based violence in the world of cinema. “Everyone knows that in the film industry, an attacker disguised as a director makes little girls suffer so that they cry for real”she said.
She wished that “the ‘I’ becomes ‘we'” and asked senators to open a commission of inquiry on the subject. “I ask you to help me ensure (…) that gender-based violence stops in my community”she pleaded to parliamentarians during her hearing which lasted two hours. Franceinfo summarizes the proposals made by the actress to change the situation in cinema, and, beyond that, in society as a whole.
A commission of inquiry into sexual and gender-based violence in cinema
The actress and director described, in her preamble, the principle which was at work, according to her, in the world of cinema, namely “the erasure of the subject”. She thus recounted that on film sets, “there was no Judith, only a little girl without a first name fought over by libidinous adults, under the eyes of other passive adults, subject to the omnipotence of patriarchy”, “as if the desire of ogre director took over every bat of his eyelashes.” “I don’t know that I have the right to say no. I am an object, a child swallowed by a society that has taken away my first name,” she emphasizes.
“So, I ask you the question: in six months, will you pretend not to have heard me? Are you going to seize this story, our stories, just like the cinema sometimes does?” questioned the actress, before demanding from the senators around her the creation of a commission of inquiry against sexual and gender-based violence in cinema.
Judith Godrèche assured that she had received more than 4,500 testimonies, through emails sent to an email address created after her testimony on the sexual and gender-based violence that she herself suffered. Without giving names, Judith Godrèche relayed testimonies, such as these 200 reports from technicians who all allegedly “received a selfie with a photo of the genitals of a French director”, without their consent.
A rehabilitation of judge Edouard Durand
At the start of her hearing, in the speech she had prepared, Judith Godrèche paid tribute to Judge Edouard Durand, the former head of the Independent Commission on Incest and Sexual Violence Against Children (Ciivise) and advocated for better protection of child victims of sexual violence. She criticized the fact that Edouard Durand was “took of” from the head of the Ciivise, in December 2023, while the commission is in difficulty after the resignation of the new president and accusations of sexual assault targeting the new vice-president.
“Edouard Durand anchored his tent on dry land, he created a place where mothers and children understood that they could shelter their suffering, find a roof”declared Judith Godrèche. “When the adult that I am meets Edouard Durand […]I find myself facing a man who has a very special place in society: that of non-erasure of the child’s speech”continued the actress, who implored parliamentarians, but also the government, for authorization to allow Edouard Durand “to fulfill his heroic destiny during his lifetime”. “Let’s not let the cinema take over the unfinished story of Judge Durand. It will be too late to say: ‘Everyone knew'”she insisted.
The withdrawal of the president of the CNC, indicted for sexual violence
Judith Godrèche also called for the withdrawal of Dominique Boutonnat, the president of the National Center for Cinema and Animated Images (CNC), the organization which oversees the French seventh art. He was reappointed in mid-2022, despite his indictment for sexual assault on his 21-year-old godson and his referral to the criminal court for these accusations, which he contests. “An institution that producers go to while laughing, because they say to themselves: ‘It’s funny, I’m going to go and do training against sexual violence inside an institution whose president is himself- even accused of sexual violence.’ What is this joke?” blurted the actress. “I understand that it is not necessarily in your power, but too bad, it will be said”explained Judith Godrèche to parliamentarians.
The actress specified that she had discussed the subject with the Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati: “She spoke to me about the presumption of innocence. I replied that that was not the question, that it was a question of symbol.” The CNC is in charge of the fight against sexual violence in cinema. Judith Godrèche also revealed that she had discussed with Rachida Dati the prospect of meeting Emmanuel Macron. “I asked if he wanted to see me to take a photo, or to really discuss and make decisions. (…) For the moment, I have not been contacted neither for the photo nor for the discussion”she quipped.
A “neutral referent” for minors on film sets
In her proposals to better protect children on film sets, Judith Godrèche insisted that “imposed a neutral referent” for minors “who is not paid by production, a referent who is trained, who has psychological training”, she detailed, in order to “that a child is never left alone on set”.
Judith Godrèche also spoke of the need for a “intimacy coach” and a “play coach”. “Yes, it’s scary when you’re a young actor or actress to find yourself in scenes with an adult yelling at you.”, she highlighted. During these scenes, “a child needs support” from an adult who is not “not the director”, pleaded the actress, who also calls for “a more effective control system” from social services. She called them to go to the film sets, to “more effective monitoring”.
Because in the face of “the influence” directors, “the presence of parents can do nothing”estimated Judith Godrèche, who questioned the responsibility of men and patriarchy. “The predator is not the mother who is on set and who does not know that, when her daughter rehearses in her room at 8:30 p.m., the director asks her to come and lie down on the sofa, hammered Judith Godrèche. It’s not her mother who is responsible at that moment, it’s the man who is raping the little girl.”
Judith Godrèche also spoke about the film CE2 by Jacques Doillon, whose release is currently suspended: “He wanted the role of the bullied little girl to be given to a little girl who, in life, had been bullied, to make her relive on screen what she experienced in life, so that the suffering had looks real.”
A surge in society, which must react, “forever”
The director made a point of mentioning the names of other women who have publicly denounced their attacker, such as the actress Adèle Haenel or the author Vanessa Springora. “How many little girls, little boys, how many little feet in the door will it take before this society responds forever?” asked Judith Godrèche, who called for a start in society, “so that we can play the roles of our lives without having our childhood stolen, abused, beaten, without being reduced to a pale memory”.
The director insisted that “this incestuous cinema family is only a reflection of society” and denounced “a society systematically organized in the suppression of speech”. “Basically, the cinema industry, which you are talking about, could be called the industry of life”summarized Judith Godrèche.