French director and actor Nicolas Bedos, 44, character of Tout-Paris and son of humorist Guy Bedos, is being investigated after three separate complaints of rape and sexual assault from women.
• Also read: Director Nicolas Bedos was charged with sexual assault in early 2024
The investigation was opened on July 5 and transferred to the Paris criminal police, the public prosecutor said on Tuesday evening, confirming information from the Mediapart news site.
Two of the women who claim to have sent a report to the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office at the end of June told Mediapart of the facts of a sexual nature which they accuse Nicolas Bedos of.
One of them, a 50-year-old actress and screenwriter who calls herself Chloé, accuses the director of raping her in 1999 at the Bedos’ house in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris.
The then 26-year-old waitress had agreed to follow Nicolas Bedos with friends and then her parents, with whom a “form of friendly relationship” had been formed.
A second woman, first named Marion, described to online media a sexual assault in August 2017 at a holiday home. The facts complained about in the third complaint were not specified.
The director was taken into police custody on June 21 after a woman filed a complaint alleging that he had touched him in a Parisian club on the night of June 1-2.
He was summoned to appear before the Paris Criminal Court in February 2024 on charges of sexual assault while apparently intoxicated.
It was the revelation of this police custody and the announcement of his trial that led to the first two women who knew each other testifying in court, Mediapart specifies.
Mr Bedos’ lawyer, Me Julia Minkowski, was contacted and declined to respond.
Nicolas Bedos has played multiple roles in the world of cinema: playwright, columnist, screenwriter and even actor.
The son of comedian Guy Bedos, he has made a name for himself in several plays, including Sortie de scène, since making his theatrical debut in 2004 when he was just 25 years old, excelling in many fields.
As an artist and humorist, Nicolas Bedos represents his politically incorrect, sometimes divisive positions. He is the author of four films, including three that screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
His most-watched feature film, La Belle Époque (2019), won 11 César nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, and attracted 1.2 million viewers to cinemas.
He flipped the pinnacle of French cinema, from Jean Dujardin (“OSS117: Red Alert in Black Africa”) to Isabelle Adjani (“Mascarade”) via Daniel Auteuil, Guillaume Canet and Fanny Ardant.