“Who should we count on to ensure that, from now on, no child will be the victim of sexual or moral violence on a set or during a casting?”
This is the question asked by Judith Godrèche during a hearing at the National Assembly, which brought together delegations for children's rights and women's rights, on March 14.
Since the beginning of February and the filing of her complaint for rape of a minor against the directors Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon, the 51-year-old actress has increasingly asserted herself as a leading figure in the fight against sexist and sexual violence, against women but also children.
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Also read “We have to stop pretending not to know”: Judith Godrèche’s plea before the Senate for cinema reform
In front of an audience of deputies, the woman who is also a director took stock of the microcosm of French cinema without compromise or concession.
“When, even today, a man so easily brushes aside the words of a child who confides in society in the hope of being heard.
When another powerful man tirelessly rapes minors with complete impunity.
When non-places follow one another and look the same.
When the cinema society has been attacking, manipulating and “sadizing” children for decades, all this in front of an audience of conquered and silent aficionados, in complete bliss without the shadow of revolt, disgust, startle.
When we address technicians like underlings, we mistreat them and yell at them,” she initially noted calmly.
Before asking yourself: “Where can I find these words lost along the way: women’s rights, children’s rights, the right to say no?”
“Society protects them”
Referring to the abuse suffered during her adolescence, committed by “directors adored by the French intelligentsia”, Judith Godrèche was transparent about her now inability to have confidence in “a world governed by adults”.
The actress took the opportunity to recall the disastrous psychological consequences of this violence.
“Growing up, I thought I was bad, dirty, guilty.
I know now that I didn't do anything.
But society is guilty because it idolizes them, because it supports them, because it protects them,” she condemned.
And to recall in passing that in most cases of violence against children, the adult abuser is a trusted person: “His father, his educator, his director.
The incestuous society of cinema is only a reflection of our society.
The same mechanisms are at work.
(…) I am counting on you to protect the children, to no longer deliver them to the cinema without any protection,” she finally asserted.
Already on February 29, the actress requested the opening of a commission of inquiry into gender-based and sexual violence in the cinema industry during a Senate hearing.