The French film director Benoît Jacquot was charged on Wednesday with the rape of two actresses, Julia Roy and Isild Le Besco, a number of years in the past, based on the Paris prosecutor’s workplace.
Mr. Jacquot, 77, is one among two administrators going through a wave of #MeToo accusations which have roiled France’s film business because the actress Judith Godrèche got here ahead to say he had raped her throughout an abusive relationship that began when she was 14 and he was 39.
Within the wake of Ms. Godrèche’s accusations, Ms. Roy, 34, and Ms. Le Besco, 41, publicly accused Mr. Jacquot of retaining them in equally abusive relationships and of sexually abusing them once they had been a lot youthful actresses who starred in his movies.
Ms. Le Besco has accused Mr. Jacquot of raping her between the ages of 16 and 25. Ms. Roy, who acted in a few of Mr. Jacquot’s movies between 2016 and 2021, had accused him of sexual and bodily abuse.
Mr. Jacquot and the opposite director who has been accused, Jacques Doillon, 80, had been taken into police custody on Monday for questioning.
Each males have denied any wrongdoing.
Mr. Doillon was launched on Tuesday on medical grounds and with out being charged, the Paris prosecutor’s workplace mentioned, though it added that it was nonetheless analyzing tips on how to proceed in his case. Ms. Godrèche has accused Mr. Doillon of sexually assaulting her twice.
The fees involving Ms. Roy are tied to accusations that Mr. Jacquot raped her in 2013. He was additionally charged with bodily and sexually assaulting her between 2018 and 2019. The rape costs involving Ms. Le Besco are related to the years 1998 by way of 2000, when she turned 18.
Mr. Jacquot, who directed films together with “A Single Lady” and “Farewell, My Queen,” was launched on Wednesday on bail of 25,000 euros, or about $27,000, underneath strict circumstances.
The investigative decide issued a restraining order that stops Mr. Jacquot from contacting the ladies who accused him, ordered him to hunt psychological care and barred him from working with minors. He was additionally prohibited from working as a director, the Paris prosecutor’s workplace mentioned, and from making “public appearances in reference to the actions that led to the fee of the offenses for which he’s underneath investigation.”
Mr. Jacquot’s lawyer, Julia Minkowski, couldn’t instantly be reached for touch upon Wednesday night. In a press release to Agence France-Presse, she referred to as the restrictions a disproportionate “judicial cancellation” of her consumer and mentioned he would attraction the costs.
The allegations Ms. Godrèche made towards Mr. Jacquot had been previous the statute of limitations. “However I really feel heard by way of this resolution,” Ms. Godrèche mentioned on Instagram on Wednesday after the prosecutor’s workplace mentioned it was in search of costs towards Mr. Jacquot.
In France, prosecutors in advanced legal circumstances can search costs, however the circumstances are finally dealt with by particular magistrates with broad investigative powers who cost defendants once they imagine that the proof factors to critical wrongdoing. The magistrates can later drop the costs if they don’t imagine that the proof is adequate to proceed to trial.
