10 actresses blame director Philippe Lioret for inappropriate behavior

The term that comes up most often is “abuse of power”. In a long Franceinfo investigation, published this Tuesday April 9, ten actresses implicate the director of Welcome, nominated several times for the Oscars. They denounce inappropriate and inappropriate behavior, and for three of them, stolen kisses.

The events reported took place between 1990 and 2010. The modus operandi is almost systematic: all situations take place within the framework of the attribution of a role. Certain situations occur during work sessions. Philippe Lioret asks the actresses to give them the answer and chooses scenes of an erotic nature. Others during meetings in a café or restaurant. All the actresses evoke embarrassing, disturbing situations.

Among the actresses interviewed, Hélène Seuzaret says she was invited by Philippe Lioret to a work session on a Saturday while the team was resting. He decides to give him the answer and chooses an “intimate, carnal” scene between two characters, describes Franceinfo. After this situation described as “awkward” by the actress, the director then tried to kiss her on the mouth while leaving the session: “It’s like an abuse of power: he allows himself, because I’m waiting to this role, to steal a kiss from me,” she describes.

Actress Élodie Frenck recounts a very unpleasant scene with the director. Here again, Philippe Lioret decides to give him the answer and chooses a scene of “kissing and mutual attraction” between the main character of Claire, the magistrate, and her husband: “He put his mouth on my neck, he had the short of breath, I was very uncomfortable. I pulled away and he said to me: 'But do you want to do it or don't you want to do it?' I felt like a little mouse at the bottom of the box,” recalls the actress. The actress Émilie Deville recounts a scene played between a mother and her child: “He (Philippe Lioret) acts like a six-year-old child, he gets on his knees and he grabs my hips. He sticks his face on my penis saying: 'Mommy!'” describes Émilie Deville.

Other actresses claim that, during castings, the director asked them to “show their breasts”. Information confirmed by the casting assistant: “I remember this scene, during the tests, where it was absolutely necessary to put perfume on the areola of the actress's breast. He absolutely wanted us to see the breast. When I spoke to the actresses, I was ordered to pull on their bra and take out their breasts,” she explains, maintaining that the filmmaker made the actresses’ chests “a crucial issue,” writes Franceinfo.

For his part, Philippe Lioret claims to have “never had the feeling of trying to abuse anyone”, he defends himself to Franceinfo. “Philippe Lioret has always been very personally involved in castings. It's really his thing, replies his lawyer, Solange Doumic. He seeks to obtain the best from the actors and actresses who pass tests. So, he's the one who gives them the answer. In the casting of All our desires, he chose a scene of tenderness because it is crucial,” continues the lawyer.

This investigation comes at a time when French cinema is experiencing a wave of freedom of speech since the intervention of Judith Godrèche to denounce sexist and sexual violence in the world of French cinema.