Maintained first.
And now postponed.
While on February 16, the release of the film “CE2” by Jacques Doillon was confirmed for March 27, we learned this Tuesday, February 27 that it has been postponed to a later date.
Its director is targeted - like another filmmaker, Benoît Jacquot - by a preliminary investigation following a complaint from Judith Godrèche for rape of a minor.
In this context, the producer of the feature film, Bruno Pésery, announced to the specialized magazine Le Film français that “CE2” will not be released as planned: “When we decided to maintain this date, we hoped that a distinction would be made between the charges against Jacques Doillon which date back 40 years, and a film which is the fruit of the work of a team, a large part of which was not born 40 years ago.
We were wrong.
Today, it seems neither possible nor desirable to maintain this release date,” he explains.
“CE2”, is a film on school bullying that has been postponed several times since 2021, the year in which it was screened in August, in the presence of Brigitte Macron, at the Angoulême Francophone Film Festival.
Its release in March became difficult to maintain after the complaint of Judith Godrèche and the accusations of two other actresses, Anna Mouglalis and Isild le Besco — described as “lies” by the 79-year-old director.
One of the actresses in the film, Nora Hamzaoui, herself opposed the release of the feature film.
She had launched on Instagram that maintaining this release constituted “a contempt for the words of women.
What is happening in the cinema sector, and which, I hope, extends to other sectors, is essential and important.
This is the priority thing to support today…”
“We could only look at things from our point of view”
The pressure was therefore increasing, in a context where, if we are to believe Bruno Pésery, certain cinema bosses were starting to think about not showing the film in their theaters: “Many exhibitors questioned the possibility of releasing the film .
I don't believe they were expressing a desire for censorship.
They are concerned about the current context making it difficult to exhibit a film.
(…)
We could only consider things from our point of view, our decision to postpone takes into account these realities and the concern to protect the film itself.”
If the producer assures that "the choice to maintain the release date did not demonstrate contempt for the words of women" and that, "at no time is it a question of turning away or minimizing the accusations made against Jacques Doillon", he considers "very important that we quickly return to the principles of law, because only the judicial institution offers guarantees to both parties.
We cannot treat a person who is the subject of a complaint or indictment like a convicted person.
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Also read: Judith Godrèche: “There is a silence that I experience day by day”
In the meantime, Judith Godrèche continues, in an appeal launched on Instagram, renewed on Friday during her speech at the César ceremony, to collect testimonies from women and men, anonymous or known, who have been victims of sexist violence and sexual…