Sexual violence and sexual harassment are “endemic” in France’s entertainment industry, a damning report by French politicians has found, concluding that women and children are still being routinely preyed on, despite the country’s #MeToo movement.
The Green MP Sandrine Rousseau and the centrist Erwan Balanant found that sexual violence, harassment and bullying were “systemic, endemic and persistent” in all sectors of the French culture and entertainment industry, from TV and cinema to theatre, radio, comedy, advertising, rock and classical music.
After a five-month inquiry, in which they described receiving “overwhelming” testimony from almost 400 people, including actors and industry workers, the politicians said attitudes in France were “barely evolving” many years after the #MeToo movement began.
The parliamentary inquiry had heard accounts of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment, with “numerous” alleged assaults happening recently. They said a decades-long culture of silencing victims was getting worse in France, amid a sense of “collective denial”. They described an “ambient sexism” as well as racism in the sector.
The lawmakers made almost 90 recommendations, including better protections for actors and models aged under 18, and improved regulation of actors’ agents and casting procedures.
They also proposed banning the sexualisation of minors on screen and in fashion photos. They said compulsory intimacy coordinators should be present for any scene of intimacy involving minors, and that intimacy coordinators should be suggested as compulsory for cinema, TV and theatre.
Women working on film sets told how, in the course of their daily work, senior male crew members would make sexual comments such as demands for oral sex. Young women described being pushed up against a wall and sexually assaulted while at work. One assistant director described being summoned to see an actor and finding him waiting with his trousers down.
The report found that sexual assault was common during the casting process. Scenes of sex or nudity were also found to have been a place for sexual assaults and rape to occur. One film worker said she realised that a female actor had been raped during a bedroom scene, but the director took no action when it was reported to him.
The report found children were particularly vulnerable and subject to abuse in cinema and the performing arts.
One actor described how, aged 10, she had to appear in a rape scene, but was prevented from meeting the actor first and was taken by surprise when she was grabbed by him. “I was petrified,” she said. Another teenager was pushed and verbally abused during a romantic scene with an actor decades older. One young child had his trousers pulled down on set when he did not want to perform in only his underpants. One director reminded another child of his father’s death just before a scene, to get the right look of emotion for a shot.
The politicians called for better regulation of music schools, acting schools and choirs after hearing allegations of a music teacher telling a young girl “to look more like a whore” while playing the flute. They also heard allegations of a choir master kissing girls on the neck.
Rousseau said what struck her in testimony from the film industry was how young some actors were when sexual harassment began. She said: “For some, it started in childhood, in school, at castings and went on all the way through their careers.”
The actor Sara Forestier, who started working in film aged 13, told the inquiry that at her first casting she was asked to take off her underwear and throw it on to someone’s plate. Throughout her career she repeatedly had to say “no” to directors who wanted to have sex with her and who threatened to take roles away if she refused.
“In our country, there’s a cult of talent and creative genius,” Balanant said, adding that some star directors and actors felt they could act how they pleased.
The report comes weeks after the Paris trial for sexual assault of the French film star, Gérard Depardieu. He denies the charges against him, and the verdict will be announced next month.
The actor and director Judith Godrèche, who became a leading voice in France’s #MeToo movement and called for the inquiry, said Wednesday’s report was “terrifying”. She has filed complaints against the directors Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon for sexually assaulting her while she was a teenager. Both have denied the allegations.
