Understanding the Woody Allen case in five points

The business has divided the family for twenty-five years. In 1992, Dylan Farrow accuses her adoptive father Woody Allen of having sexually assaulted her at the age of 7. Since then, the siblings have split up, between anti-Woody Allen on one side, represented by Mia and Ronan Farrow, and pro-Woody Allen on the other, led by Moses Farrow.

Regularly, the accusations launched by Dylan Farrow come back to the fore. They are re-emerging today when Hachette has given up publishing the memoirs of the director of Minuit in Paris , faced with the slingshot of employees of the publishing house and Ronan Farrow, biological son of the American filmmaker.

The accusations

In August 1992, Dylan Farrow, adoptive daughter of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen and now 35 years old, confides to a doctor that she was touched by the director in the attic of the family home, while 'she was 7 years old.

At the time, a guardian of the property claims to have seen the director's head in the hollow of the little girl's knee. Another staff member said he saw him without underwear on the day of the alleged assault. Mia Farrow, for her part, testified that her former companion was undergoing therapy because of her abnormal behavior with the little girl.

Read also: Dylan Farrow, the eternal disavowed daughter of Woody Allen

Dylan Farrow speaks publicly in 2013 in the columns of Vanity Fair and reiterates his accusations against Woody Allen. A year later, she delivers the most chilling testimony in the New York Times . “[Woody Allen] told me to lie on my stomach and play with my brother's electric train. Then he sexually assaulted me. He talked to me while doing it, whispered to me that I was a nice girl, that it was our secret […] . "

The adopted daughter of the New York filmmaker testified again in 2017, in the midst of the #MeToo wave, before returning in detail in 2018 to the assault she would have suffered, in an interview on the American channel CBS.

The abandonment of charges

Woody Allen has never been arrested or prosecuted for these charges. After Dylan Farrow's testimony in 1992, an investigation was opened by the Connecticut police, where actress Mia Farrow and her children lived at the time. The director said in a statement that "no evidence of the attack was found" . A team of therapists in turn establishes that the scene never took place and the charges are dropped by the instruction.

I love my daughter, I will always protect her

However, the president of the court judges the results of the doctors inconclusive and shouts at a report "sanitized" and "tinged with loyalty to Mr. Allen" . He even believes that the filmmaker's behavior towards his daughter is "manifestly inappropriate" and grants Mia Farrow sole custody of his children, while Woody Allen is prohibited from approaching Dylan Farrow.

Camp Farrow

Woody Allen's former partner Mia Farrow has always claimed that her husband had sexually abused their adopted daughter, publicly supporting her on Twitter. "I love my daughter, I will always protect her. I will certainly receive a lot of attacks. But I'm not concerned, only the truth matters to me. ”

I love my daughter. I will always protect her. A lot of ugliness is going to be aimed at me. But this is not about me, it's about her truth.

Like his mother, journalist and lawyer Ronan Farrow, biological son of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen born in 1987, has constantly denounced what he calls "sexual slippages" . “I missed the tribute to Woody Allen. Did they mention the time when a woman publicly confirmed that he had assaulted her when she was 7 years old before or after quoting Annie Hall ? ” , he wrote in 2014 in a tweet at the Golden Globes ceremony.

The man who published an investigation revealing the sexual assaults committed by Harvey Weinstein and who supports Adèle Haenel, also denounces the "culture of silence and impunity which surrounds her father" .

Allen Camp

Woody Allen, 84, has always categorically denied the "false and shameful" charges brought against him. “I have worked with hundreds of actresses. Never one of them complained about me, " he said in an interview with Le Point .

As for Moses Farrow, adopted son of Woody Allen and Mia Farrow, he does not budge: his father is innocent. Aged 40 today, in 2018 he published a long text in which he challenged the allegations of sexual assault made by his sister Dylan against the director. He notably accuses his adoptive mother Mia Farrow of mistreating her children and of having manipulated Dylan so that she would incriminate Woody Allen.

Read also: Woody Allen's adopted son defends his father and accuses Mia Farrow of mistreatment

The filmmaker's former partner is today suspected of having used his daughter to take revenge on him. In 1992, she discovered that Woody Allen had a romantic relationship with one of her adopted daughters, Soon-Yi Previn, then 22 years old. In 1997, the director of Café Society married the young woman, 35 years younger.

And today...

Long spared by the new wave of whistle-blowing whistles that sweeps through Hollywood, Woody Allen begins to suffer the devastating effects. The famous director sees the film industry gradually withdrawing his support. In 2018, Amazon canceled the American release of its film A rainy day in New York , with Timothée Chalamet, Selena Gomez and Jude Law. The filmmaker had attacked the internet giant before the American courts for an improper breach of contract, claiming $ 68 million. Before dropping the lawsuits after finding a confidential agreement with Amazon.

I have worked with hundreds of actresses. Never one of them complained about me

Faced with protests from its employees and Woody Allen's son, Ronan Farrow, which Hachette also publishes, the group announced Friday evening that it had given up publishing the book by the director of Blue Jasmine . The book, supposed to retrace in detail the professional and personal life of the 84-year-old artist, author of dozens of feature films including the legendary Manhattan and Annie Hall , was to be published on April 7 in the United States by a subsidiary of Hachette, Grand Central Publishing.

Also: Roman Polanski and Woody Allen Desperately Want Distributors

Several actors and actresses, including Timothée Chalamet, Colin Firth, Rebecca Hall and Greta Gerwig, have announced that they will no longer work with him in the future.

Woody Allen can however count on the support of Scarlett Johansson, who declared that she was convinced of his innocence, and of Javier Bardem. The two actors of Vicky Cristina Barcelona both assured that they would work without hesitation with the New York filmmaker. Exasperated that the artists who played for Woody Allen are arrested about the affair, Alec Baldwin tweeted that it would take "more, much more to condemn someone like this".