Rania Hoballah –
For Claude Lelouch, friendship is sacred. The director told the Parisian that he had refused to cut Ary Abittan from the editing of his new film Love is better than life, in theaters this Wednesday. While he was advised to delete the scenes in which the actor appeared, indicted for rape on November 2 and placed under judicial supervision, the famous director chose to support him.
“Obviously, the decision-makers told us: ‘We have to change…’ They told me: ‘TV no longer buys films with Ary Abittan'”, explained the filmmaker daily. “Do you realize? I’m not going to listen to these things. Besides, I’m a faithful friend. My friends can count on me when they’re going badly. At the moment, what Ary is going through is is a nightmare”, continued the 84-year-old director.
For the moment, the presumption of innocence must play
“I believe in justice. For the moment, the presumption of innocence must play. If he did something stupid, he must be punished. But friendship is a word that has meaning . So there’s no way I’m cutting a scene,” decided the director ofA man and a woman.
Since his indictment, Ary Abittan has seen his career come to an abrupt end. He was ousted from the series he was shooting for M6 entitled The man of our lives, and the first dates of his new one-man-show, For real, have also been cancelled.