The world of cinema is shaking, while tongues are finally loosened. Jacques Doillon, Benoît Jacquot, Philippe Garrel, or even Philippe Lioret, not to mention Gérard Depardieu or even Roman Polanski… The names continue to rain down on the list of sexual predators in French cinema. And on the eve of the opening of the Cannes Film Festival, the most important and prestigious event of its kind, new revelations have just come to light. In investigation unveiled Monday May 13, 2024, the magazine SHE collected testimonies from nine women. All accuse Alain Sarde of rape, sexual assault or harassment. A key figure in the industry for 40 years, he produced more than 200 films, including those by Roman Polanski, André Téchiné, Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Doillon, and David Lynch.
Several actresses testify to Alain Sarde’s modus operandi
Of Alain Sarde’s nine accusers, most wished to remain anonymous. All denounce facts that occurred in the 80s or 90s. Some were minor. In 1985, one of them was only 15 years old when she went to the producer to discuss a role. “He pushed me onto the bed and jumped on me. I remember his lips very well, his disgusting mouth. He was ugly despite his manicured hands. It was beastly. I still feel the pressure of his body on mine. He held me down and raped me”, she tells our colleagues. Another reveals having managed to escape an attack in this same Parisian apartment, in 1987: “Suddenly he gave me the piece [de chocolat] remaining in the mouth, while tipping me backwards and wallowing on top of me.”
Two years later, Alain Sarde allegedly imposed oral sex on an actress in his production company. The testimonies evoke a modus operandi : the producer invited young girls who were making their debut, put them at ease by offering them chocolates… before attacking them. At the beginning of their careers, these actresses were often encouraged to keep quiet. “Look, he’s the biggest producer in Paris. It’s his word against yours. You just started, if you want it to stop now, go ahead, go to the cops!”remembers one of them, reporting the words of her agent at the time.
Alain Sarde, already imprisoned for sexual assault in 1997, refutes the accusations
As a reminder, Alain Sarde had already been targeted by a sexual assault investigation and incarcerated for “rape and attempted rape” in 1997. The producer was accused of having benefited from a pimping network, through which his friend the photographer Jean-Pierre Bourgeois presented him with aspiring actresses under false professional pretexts. The case was finally dismissed in 1999, as the courts were unable to prove that these sexual relations were non-consensual. Today, Alain Sarde “refutes with the greatest firmness” these new accusations“all lies”as his lawyer declared to SHE. The 72-year-old producer would thus be “outraged and devastated by these allegations”affirming “never used the slightest violence or coercion in his relationships with women whose consent was always essential to him”.