At the beginning of February, in
Le Monde
, several actresses denounced having suffered, like Judith Godrèche, violence and sexual harassment from director Benoît Jacquot.
Actress Julia Roy then described a relationship “composed of manipulation, domination, physical violence and sexual harassment”.
For his part, Isild Le Besco admitted to having suffered “psychological or physical violence” from the filmmaker.
Without saying more, the actress and director said she was “not ready to talk about this story in the press”.
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Today, while the shadow of sexual scandals hangs over the César ceremony, the actress has agreed to speak in the columns of Le
Parisien
about her relationship with the filmmaker with whom she shot 5 films.
Maïwenn's sister denounces in particular the “destructive influence” of Benoît Jacquot, with whom she began a relationship when she was 16 and he was 52.
“On the surface, it was a relationship nourishing beautiful films and, for me, the discovery of a world,” she explains.
But inside, it was also a destructive influence, a loss of self.
Psychological violence, above all.
Benoît Jacquot thought he knew better than me who I was and what I thought.
For example, he was constantly telling me that I was fat.
There was also physical violence, sometimes out of anger.”
“One influence generates other influences”
“What is very serious is that, as I experienced this relationship at 16, it was constitutive of my personality.
One influence generates other influences,” she adds in this interview with Le
Parisien
.
“Afterwards, I experienced even worse things with other men because I was ready to crush myself for someone.
A lot of my life was wasted.”
How was this influence born?
For Isild Le Besco, it is clear, she was “easy prey”.
“I was a fragile young girl, very malleable,” she considers.
I have always been very isolated, even at school.
(...) For a long time, I thought that without attention I was worthless.
Then, I understood that it was the way people had looked at me since I was very young that had created this: a look that doesn't see the person, just the projection.
However, if we only believe we exist in the gaze of others, we easily become their object.
Very naturally, we learn to accept things that hurt us.
Not listening to your body, not even feeling it anymore.
You get used to being silent, too.”
Also read: Anaïs Vois, psychologist, on influence: “It is “easier” to control a young girl, in the process of building her identity”
“He literally plundered me”
In her interview with the regional daily, Isild Le Besco also mentions Jacques Doillon, whom she accuses of having taken away a role from her after she refused his advances.
“I was 17 and he asked me to prepare for a role.
For weeks, I worked improvising and co-directing the script and the day I refused his advances, he fired me from the film.
He literally plundered me, and not just my work,” she says.
Before denouncing the complicity of the 7th art in all the abuses she suffered: “The cinema industry behaved exactly as a family behaves when one of its members is mistreated: by remaining silent.”
Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon are today the target of a complaint from Judith Godrèche for “violent rape of a minor under the age of 15” committed by a person in authority.
Isild Le Besco has not yet filed a complaint against them but plans to do so.
To Le
Parisien
, she confirms: “Yes, it is likely that at some point I will.”