Two French film directors questioned by police over sexual assault claims-Alistair McGeorge-Entertainment – Metro

Jacques Doillon and Benoit Jacquot have been taken into custody over the allegations (Picture: Getty/Wireimage)

French filmmakers Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon have both been taken into police custody.

The two directors are being questioned by authorities over allegations of sexual assault made by actress Judith Godrèche, who filed complaints against the pair in February this year.

According to French media, both men have been questioned at the Paris branch of France’s Brigade for the Protection of Minors.

Both men have denied the allegations, which were made when Godrèche opened up about her experiences of sexual abuse in the French cinema industry as a teenager.

Earlier this year, she filed complaints against both directors, alleging that she started a relationship with Jacquot in the late 1980s, when he was 40 and she was just 14 years old.

Now, she has criticised their relationship and said she was under his control, while she also accused him of ‘rape with constraint’.

Judith Godrèche has accused the two directors of sexual assault (Picture: Arnold Jerocki/FilmMagic)

In her filing in February, Godrèche accused Doillon of ‘rape with violence’, which related to his alleged actions on and off the set of 1989 movie The 15 Year Old Girl.

She has alleged that he first abused her when she was 15, at his partner Jane Birkin’s house.

‘No one saw it and I didn’t tell anyone about it,’ she told France Inter.

The second alleged incident is said to have occurred in 1989 on the set of The 15 Year Old Girl, which saw her take on the lead role in a movie written and directed by Doillon, who also starred in the film.

Jacques Doillon directed The 15 Year Old Girl (Picture: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

The story followed a teenage girl who fell in love with her boyfriend’s father.

‘All of a sudden, he decides that there is a love scene, a sex scene between him and me,’ she told France Inter, because claiming the director ‘groped’ and ‘made out’ with her.

She said Doillon’s partner at the time, Jane Birkin, was on set at the time, which was ‘an extremely painful situation for her’.

In France, the law means people accused of a crime can be held in police custody for up to 48 hours, while Jacquot and Doillon’s respective lawyers Julia Minkowski and Marie Dosé have both denounced this measure.

Benoit Jacquot was in a relationship with her (Picture: Foc Kan/WireImage)

Shortly after filing her complaint Godrèche voiced her call for real progress in France amid the #MeToo movement, explaining that ‘women are still being considered as objects’.

She told Deadline: ‘I hope there’s a change, but women are being still considered as objects. The reason I keep talking is because I don’t want this to be like a soufflé that rises and then collapses.

‘I won’t let go. I’m still accepting interviews because I’m waiting to see change and for people to take action.’

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