France to bar film companies that don't meet strict new sexual harassment rules

Christophe Ruggia denies sexually harassing Adele Haenel from the age of 12 
Christophe Ruggia denies sexually harassing Adele Haenel from the age of 12 

France has launched a crackdown on sexual abuse and harassment in its film industry as the county’s notoriously close-knit cultural establishment reels from accusations it has failed to stamp out a culture of predatory male behaviour in its midst.

In recent days, the French film world has been rocked by two bombshells regarding alleged sexual abuse.

In what many are calling a post-#Metoo turning point moment for the Gallic industry, acclaimed French actress Adèle Haenel last week alleged she was sexually harassed from the age of 12 by the director who made her first film.

Days later, French photographer Valentin Monnier alleged that she was raped in 1975 by French-Polish director Roman Polanski when she was 18 after her beat her "into submission" at his Swiss chalet and tried to drug her.

Both men deny any wrongdoing.

Adele Haenel's accusations have shocked France 
Adele Haenel's accusations have shocked France  Credit:  WireImage

In the wake of the accusations, Franck Riester, France’s culture minister announced that companies who fail to meet commitments to “prevent and detect sexual harassment” would be barred from receiving state funding from the CNC film body.

Film companies, he said, should systematically appoint a person responsible for preventing and detecting cases of sexual harassment on the set or during promotional campaigns.

A special unit to support victims of sexual harassment in cinema and TV would become operational starting in January, he added.

The CNC announced plans to offer training courses to prevent and detect harassment in film.

The pledges came as a top directors’ society, SRF, called for crisis talks on the issue. 

The French directors guild, ARP, meanwhile is to decide tomorrow (Mon) whether to blackball Mr Polanski, whose new film on the Dreyfus affair, An Officer and a Spy, topped the Paris box office this week despite calls for a boycott after the fresh rape claim. 

Mr Polanski has been a fugitive from American justice since fleeing to France in 1978 after admitting to the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl.

After long receiving unconditional support from the French cultural establishment, including actress Catherine Deneuve, he received a far frostier reception over the latest claims.

French actress Catherine Deneuve and director Roman Polanski
French actress Catherine Deneuve and director Roman Polanski Credit: VALERY HACHE/AFP

Mr Riester warned that "genius is not a guarantee of impunity" and that “a work of art, no matter how great, does not excuse the possible sins of its author".

France's equality minister Marlene Schiappa said she would not see it, as did government spokeswoman Sibeth Ndiaye. 

Former women's minister Laurence Rossignol backed an online campaign to boycott the film, adding: ”We cannot allow him to wipe this away, and going to see this film is that."

While the Polanski row is grabbing headlines, industry figures said it was the Haenel case that was the real game-changer.

The 30-year-old actress, who has won two French Oscars, said she was subjected to “permanent sexual harassment” by director Christophe Ruggia from the age of 12 to 15 when she was making and promoting her debut 2002 film, The Devils, in which she played a girl with autism.

She told an investigation by the French website Mediapart that his “forced kisses on the neck” and “repeated touching” to the thighs and torso constituted child abuse.

Her decision to speak out came after watching Leaving Neverland, a documentary about alleged abuse carried out by the US pop star Michael Jackson, and learning that Mr Ruggia was to make another film with teenagers.

“Monsters don’t exist,” said Ms Haenel who declined to press for charges. “This is our society we’re talking about. Our fathers, our friends, our brothers. As long as we don’t see this, we’ll never move forward.”

In a letter to Les Inrockuptibles, iconic French actress Isabelle Adjani said for the first time since the Harvey Weinstein scandal, the victim, not the alleged perpetrator, had taken the lead role.

“It is not what HE has done that is important, it is what SHE has to say. And that changes everything!,” she wrote.

Meanwhile, Sandrine Brauer, producer and member of 50/50, a French group promoting parity, equality and diversity in French film and TV, said: “This was not just a personal account (of alleged abuse), it was a political act.”

Mr Ruggia's lawyers said he “categorically refuted” any misconduct.

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