“I never had an intimate relationship with Judith Godrèche”: Jacques Doillon denounces the lies of a “league of virtue”

Filmmaker Jacques Doillon, accused of sexual assault by several actresses including Judith Godrèche, denounces a “pack effect” and lies encouraged by “a league of virtue” which would make “fear reign”, in an interview published Wednesday April 10 by Le Parisien. “I have never promised a role to anyone nor taken advantage of my position as director to obtain sexual favors,” assures the director. In 35 films, it happened once or twice to me to have romances with actresses, but I was not a harasser,” he says.

A figure in auteur cinema, the 80-year-old director is the target of an investigation after a complaint from Judith Godrèche, who accuses him of having sexually assaulted her on the sidelines of the filming of La Fille de 15 ans, released in 1989, and of raping her in his office. “I never had an intimate relationship with Judith Godrèche. I was never attracted to her,” assures the filmmaker, about the actress, who became the spearhead of

“Judith Godrèche opened the ball and made me her scapegoat. The other accusations followed. It seems that the pack effect described in psychology applies there perfectly, he believes. When I learned of these accusations from Judith Godrèche, I felt astonishment, stupefaction and anger.

Asked about his new film CE2, the release of which was postponed indefinitely after these accusations, he believes that it could “perhaps” be broadcast when “the league of virtue of Judith Godrèche (...) ceases to reign in fear".

In this interview, the filmmaker also denies the accusations made by Isild Le Besco, who claims to have had to endure the advances of Jacques Doillon during work sessions, and speaks of a “lie” or manipulation. “It’s a story that she invents or that someone suggests to her,” he believes.

Regarding Anna Mouglalis, who assures that the filmmaker kissed her by force at her home in 2011, he puts forward the hypothesis of jealousy or again of manipulation. “I think Anna was jealous of my daughter who had just filmed with Samuel (Benchetrit, then companion of Anna Mouglalis, Editor’s note), he assures. Or that she was pushed by others to say something that didn't happen.