By Juliette Jabkhiro
PARIS (Reuters) – A verdict is expected on Monday in the trial of French film director Christophe Ruggia, charged with sexually abusing actress Adele Haenel when she was underage, in one of the first #MeToo cases to emerge from French cinema.
Haenel, a prize-winning actress in movies such as “Portrait of a Lady On Fire”, has accused Ruggia of repeatedly touching her inappropriately after they met while working on the movie “The Devils” in 2001, when she was 12 and he was 36.
She first publicly accused him in 2019 of exercising undue control over her, isolating her from her family and crewmembers, while also forcing her and co-star Vincent Rottiers into filming gruelling scenes that they were uncomfortable with.
Ruggia denies the allegations. His lawyer Fanny Colin declined to comment.
Prosecutors have requested a five-year sentence, comprising a three-year suspended prison sentence and two years in which he would wear an electronic ankle bracelet.
Haenel has become one of the leading figures in the #MeToo movement in France, where the movement has received a much more tepid reaction than in the United States. Haenel recently quit the film industry, citing complacency over suspected sexual predators still working in the business.
Haenel accuses Ruggia of abusing her from the age of 12 to 15, during and after the filming of “The Devils”, which tells the story of two abandoned siblings searching for their home.
She told investigators she often went to Ruggia’s house, where he would touch her between her legs and caress her chest. She said his actions affected her school work and provoked suicidal thoughts.
Ruggia is not the first man in French cinema to face charges over his behaviour on set.
Gerard Depardieu, one of France’s most famous actors, is due to go on trial in March accused of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021. He denies the accusations.
(Reporting by Juliette Jabkhiro; Editing by Gareth Jones)
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