André Téchiné, César-winning director for Les Roseaux sauvage in 1995, is accused of harassment and sexual assault by actor Francis Renaud.
After the recent accusations by Judith Godrèche and Aurélien Wiik, denouncing sexual assault in the French cinema world, the word continues to be freed. Actor Francis Renaud, 56, files a complaint against director André Téchiné, 80, for harassment and sexual assault.
According to Releasethe filmmaker as well as the casting director Gérard Moulévrier “are the subject of a criminal complaint filed by the actor for facts which allegedly occurred between 1988 and 2004. The two contest these accusations this Tuesday, February 27.”
“Never suffer. Never forget. Never be silent.”
On his social networks, the actor took up #MeeTooGarçon, launched by Aurélien Wiik, to denounce sexual violence. “Never suffer. Never forget. Never be silent”he commented on X by posting a photo of his complaint, filed on February 22.
Francis Renaud testifies
In a book published in 2018, Rage in the heartFrancis Renaud already spoke of sexual abuse allegedly perpetrated by a “supercasting director.” “There is such a thing as cooking rights. To succeed, you have to sleep”, this man would have said to the actor. Francis Renaud also explained that this person “then passed his hand between his thighs to gently grab his penis through his pants.”
The Parisian underlines that in his book, Francis Renaud also incriminated the director André Téchiné. “The actor, seen in numerous filmsOlivier Marchal, had explained that during a lunch, André Téchiné would have taken his hand and would have said: ‘You disturb me a lot, Francis. You should go further!’ After refusing the advances of the casting director and the filmmaker, the actor would have been ‘blacklisted'”.
André Téchiné and Gérard Moulévrier deny the facts
Contacted by Le Parisien, André Téchiné and Gérard Moulévrier contest these accusations through their lawyers. “I am obviously sorry that Francis Renaud was embarrassed by my sentimental, clumsy verbal approach during this lunch,” indicates the filmmaker in a message sent by his lawyer Me Julia Minkowski.
“I was of course wrong, at the time, in not being able to perceive that our relationship was not on an equal footing in his eyes because of my status as a director. On the other hand, I cannot only express my incomprehension today regarding this filing of a criminal complaint.”
Lawyer for Gérard Moulevrier, Me Céline Bekerman asserts for her part: “My client was surprised to discover the statements of Mr. Francis Renaud in a work, incriminating against the profession. He is stunned by such an account which in no way reflects the reality of the events. Finally, he does not have the power to blacklist an actor and on the contrary encouraged Mr. Renaud in his career.”
Note that André Téchiné’s last film was Les Âmes associés, released in April 2023. Since then, he has filmed Les Gens d’à beside, initially scheduled for May 8, 2024. The release was postponed by the distributor, Jour2fête , due to the current context. For the moment, no new date announced.