French MPs have criticised “endemic” abuse within the leisure sector after a months-long inquiry into sexual violence that noticed stars and different actors reveal cases of bullying and assault.
The inquiry, led by feminist Greens MP Sandrine Rousseau, was spurred by allegations from Judith Godreche who accused two French administrators of abusing her when she was an adolescent.
In a remaining damning report, seen by AFP forward of its launch on Wednesday, the inquiry accused the leisure sector of being a “talent grinding machine” and made 86 suggestions to higher defend actors and youngsters on set.
“Moral, sexist, and sexual violence in the cultural sector is systemic, endemic, and persistent,” learn a conclusion from Rousseau, who has overseen six months of hearings that noticed testimony from 350 individuals within the movie, theatre and TV sectors.
The report follows the sexual assault trial final month of display screen legend Gerard Depardieu, who’s the highest-profile determine to face legal accusations following the #MeToo motion which inspired ladies to talk out towards violence.
MeToo was publicly resisted by some within the French leisure sector when it first emerged in 2017, together with actress Catherine Deneuve, who noticed it as a puritan American import that inspired the airing of unsubstantiated allegations.
Depardieu, who faces accusations from round a dozen ladies, was backed by 60 movie and artwork figures in a 2023 petition, whereas President Emmanuel Macron has known as him a “towering actor” who “makes France proud”.
Depardieu denies the allegations and advised his trial that he “adored” ladies and was not a “groper”. A verdict is due on May 13.
The report questions the prevalent view in France that abusive behaviour by prime cultural figures might be excused within the identify of artwork.
“The ‘cultural exception’, but at what price?” it asks.
“In our country, there’s a cult of talent and creative genius,” Erwan Balanant, a centrist MP on the fee, advised AFP.
Some of France’s largest stars agreed to testify to the parliamentary inquiry together with Juliette Binoche, Jean Dujardin and Pierre Niney, however often behind closed doorways and typically provided that their remarks weren’t made public.
Some of the strongest testimony got here from Godreche, 53, who railed towards the “impunity” within the movie business and the “inaction” of its main lights.
“There’s not a single person from my past with an established role in the cinema world — and therefore, in positions of power … who has written to me since I spoke out,” stated the actress who appeared in “The Spanish Apartment”, “The Man in the Iron Mask”, or “Potiche”, which featured Depardieu.
Fellow actress Sara Forestier described in November how she had repeatedly stated “no” to administrators who needed to sleep along with her and who threatened to take roles away if she refused.
“Until the day I said ‘no’ one too many times — and I paid the price for it,” she added, recounting how she needed to depart a shoot in 2017 after allegedly being slapped by an actor, who was later recognized as Nicolas Duvauchelle.
Jean Dujardin, an Oscar winner in 2012 for his flip in “The Artist”, conceded that some male actors may need did not denounce abuse up to now, however that attitudes had been altering.
“We don’t see everything — and perhaps we don’t want to see,” Dujardin, 52, stated, based on a transcript revealed final month.
He added that “we no longer say what we used to say 10 or 15 years ago, and we won’t say the same things in 10 years either… I feel that sexist reactions and clumsy remarks are gradually disappearing”.
In mid-March, veteran superstar agent Dominique Besnehard challenged a few of the testimony from actresses about sexual abuse, resulting in a conflict with Rousseau who accused him of creating “derogatory remarks”.
“When I was an agent, I saw some actresses cross the line a little. You don’t go to a hotel with a director,” Besnehard stated.
Gilles Lellouche, a extensively admired French star who voices Obelix within the Asterix movies, recounted an expertise involving a girl director who tried to “seduce” him.
“I didn’t feel violently attacked — it was things like hands under my shirt. If I had done the same to a woman, it wouldn’t have been okay,” he stated.
© 2025 AFP