The French court sentenced director Christophe Ruggius on Monday that he had sexually attacked actress Adèle Haenel when she was a minor, handing him a four-year sentence or two of the year in house arrest, and the rest was suspended.
That was The first major case To examine a charge of sexual abuse at the French Cinema from the #metoo Movement, which appeared in 2017 and welcomed with strong return reaction in France. This is also an important turning point for French courts, which feminist activists in the country were condemned by the ineffective, or even discriminatingin cases of sexual violence.
Mr. Ruggia stood attention as the judges explained the judgment of the guilt.
“You used the influence you had on the young actress Adèle Haenel,” said Chief Judge Gilles Fonrouge.
Mrs. Haenel did not show a clear emotion when the verdict was read – which also ordered Mr. Ruggia to pay 50,000 euros, or about $ 51,300, compensation. But after leaving the courtroom and clapped the crowd outside, he paused for a moment to thank her supporters.
“Thank you to everyone for coming for the progress of human rights, your presence and the fact that we don’t give up,” she said.
“We’re together in this,” she added.
Mr. Ruggia’s lawyer, Fanny Colin, called the verdict “not only unjustified but also dangerous”, stating that the judges ruled to satisfy public opinion and “overthrow” the basic rule of the law – having benefits from doubt. Mr. Ruggia was planning to regret, she said.
Mr. Ruggia played Mrs. Haenel in his 2002 movie. “Devil”, about a relationship that bordered with Incest when she was 12, and he was 36 years old. After completing the recording, she continued to visit him regularly on Saturday for three years in his apartment, where the court ruled, made “sexualized moves” to her.
When Mrs. Haenel in 2019 publicly discovered such accusations, she was First great French actress To say about his personal story of abuse since the #metoo movement appeared. She was a climbing star, praised for the fierce but sensitive performances earned by her two César, a French equivalent of an Oscar.
Mr. Ruggia was a relatively unknown director, but in the isolate world of the French cinema he had a prominent role in the Association of French directors and had a reputation of filming about social justice and defense of migrants and human rights.
The case aroused a huge interest in the country. The courtroom was full of Mrs. Hanel’s supporter during a two -day Trial in December And again on Monday for the verdict.
“Ruggia’s belief is a warning to producers and directors to be careful,” said Geneviève Sellier, professor of Emeritus cinema -Studia at Bordeaux Montaigne University and author of “The Author’s Cult.” The verdict, as she said, stopped the long -lasting French romantic tradition of dedication to male artists and holding them above the law when it comes to their abuse towards ordinary younger female muse.
“It clearly indicates that this is the relationship of an elderly man over a very young woman,” Mrs. Sellier said.
At the same time, she said, the victim was a child. “The problem is that so far we have never had such a belief for an adult sacrifice,” she said.
Among the supporters of Mrs. Haenel in court was Judith Godrèche, a French film star whose Public charges against two directors You enter the time when she was a young actress of 14, she again launched a #Metoo movement in France last year. In tears after the decision, she hugged Mrs. Haenel and called the decision of the court “stubborn” and “unambiguous.”
“There are similarities in our stories. Both are stories about children, told from our adult position,” Mrs. Godsèche said in a text message, adding that she did not believe that her appeals would ever see the courtroom because they were filed outside the statute of limitations.
During the two -day hearing, two conflicting versions of the past were presented. Mrs. Haenel portrayed a regular Saturday session at Mr. Ruggia Paris’s apartment, where he was supposed to learn is a classic of a French cinema, as anguish to have sexually attacked.
I mimicking his voice, she recounted that she would caress her thighs, kiss her in her neck as she breathed strongly, put her hands under her shirt to touch her breasts and stomach, and under her pants to reach the edge of her intimate parts. She took off her ties with him when she was 15 and, for years after that, she described shame and depression.
She said she was talking in court to defend her former 12-year-old and other children’s victims who imprinted in silence, calling her “the most important thing I did in my life-stubborn breaking the loneliness of children.”
“That is why you want to die, in fact, when no one says,” said Mrs. Haenel, who is now 35, who is often bothering with anger in the courtroom, and her face has also been overwhelmed by her legs that hit the floor.
“Shut up!” At one point she screamed at the director, rushing from the courtroom.
Mrs. Hanel’s account is Mr. Ruggia as “pure lies.” But he admitted that he kissed her in the head and grabbed her, but he said it was in the father’s way.
“These were cute gestures,” he told court.
Although he spoke of her superior sexuality and wrote letters to her, stating that his heart was broken after she broke up with him, Mr. Ruggia said he was never in love with Mrs. Haenel.
“For me, Adèle was a child, a pre -cooperative,” he said.
Since the announcement of 2019 Mrs. Hanel’s story in an extensively researched Article in MediaPartFrench research site, Mr. Ruggia was thrown out of the cinema. He moved in Brittia in northwestern France to take care of his mother and live with well -being. He said that during the court proceedings he had been waiting for the trial for years: “Do I see if I will get my life if I can make movies again or not.”
Since her discovery, Mrs. Haenel has also stopped working in China. Later, she explained in a public letter that she believed that the industry had protected sexual abusers and preferred the victims “disappear and die in silence.”
“I cancel you from my world,” She wrote.
The subtext of the trial was the way the judicial system in France was engaged in the perpetrators of sex attacks and their victims. According to French parliamentary report published last monthEight of every 10 rape casualties do not go to the police, revealing deep distrust in the system.
Among the few who submit official complaints for rape, astounding 94 percent reject And never to reach the courtroom, a report was discovered in 2024, a research institute specialized in public policy. Mrs. Haenel initially told her story to a French investigating journalist and said she did not believe in the judicial system.
“Justice ignores us,” she said at the time, “we neglect justice.”
Perhaps as a result of the sharp criticism of Mrs. Hanel and the attention of her case, the police investigation of her case was extremely strict and detailed.
She herself described the experience as if Monders Monders had visited her USSR – speaking to MediaPart Marine Turti journalists that she saw only “beautiful rooms, the most beautiful achievements, the most beautiful municipal gym” and none of the gloomy realities.
“The tendency of the police and the judicial system that she harasses the victims has not disappeared,” said Ms. Sellier, a feminist film critic and author. “But this is now visible and exposed. And the need for police training and judicial system in these cases is now recognized as necessary.”
The problem, she added, was already financially struggling and looking for places to cut. “No budget for that,” she said. “It’s a missing step.”
