A sexual harassment complaint has been filed against another renowned French filmmaker, André Téchiné, a new example of freedom of expression in the film industry in France, after years of silence.
After several complaints by actresses against renowned directors or actors, in particular Gérard Depardieu, this time it is an actor, Francis Renaud, who accuses André Téchiné of harassment.
Francis Renaud, now 56, “filed a complaint against Mr. Téchiné for sexual harassment, against (casting director Gérard) Molevrier for sexual assault,” said the prosecutor of Evreux (north-western France), Rémi Coutin.
“I have asked the police to open an investigation without maintaining a precise sentence classification for the time being, since the hearing of Mr Renaud makes me exercise the greatest caution for the time being,” he clarified.
During a hearing, Mr. Renaud filed a complaint against Mr. Téchiné for “caressing his hand and telling him he was harassing him,” according to Mr. Coutin.
“If only such a thing existed, it would be unlikely that it would be qualified as sexual harassment,” emphasized the judge, demanding that the filmmaker not be “vilified based on these facts alone” (… which are not sufficiently precise). “.
“At first glance, the facts denounced by Francis Renaud are all dictated by seniority,” he added.
Regarding the complaint of sexual assault against Mr Moulevrier, the actor speaks “of facts that could perhaps be classified as sexual assault, he speaks of caresses in particular of his penis through clothing”, there are “20 or 25 years”, he said.
Here, too, “the question of a possible prescription” arises.
“It seems to me difficult at this stage to imagine with certainty a criminal qualification for the investigation,” Mr Coutin concluded.
The 80-year-old director of around thirty films, André Téchiné, was described as a “giant of French cinema” by the Cannes Festival in 2017.
Recently, France has seen a wave of allegations of sexual harassment against now older directors and actors, particularly by actress Judith Godrèche, who filed a complaint against filmmakers Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon over facts dating back to her youth.
On February 22, the statement by French actor Aurélien Wiik under the hashtag #Meetoogarçons sparked several hundred statements on social networks from male victims of sexual violence whose stories had been largely unheard for a long time.
The 43-year-old actor says he was “abused” by his agent between the ages of 11 and 15 and filed a complaint when he was 16 because his attacker “did it to others.”
His message triggered several hundred statements on the social network X, which quickly went beyond the boundaries of the 7th art.