New accusations of rape and violence against actor Sofiane Bennacer (Les Amandiers) were revealed by the newspaper Liberation in a long investigation published this morning.
Update at 2:30 p.m., publication of a press release Valeria Bruni Tedeschi :
Following the Liberation investigation, which we relay below, director Valeria Bruni Tedeschi published a press release, to read in full below (via AFP).
Here is an excerpt:This does not prevent me from being amazed, on reading today’s Liberation newspaper, to see the treatment reserved for a young man who is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation, with no respect for the people who work there and for the presumption of innocence.
I was artistically impressed by Sofiane Bennacer from the first second of my film’s casting and I wanted him to be the main actor despite rumors I was aware of. My producers expressed fears and reluctance, but I told them that these rumors didn’t stop me and that I couldn’t consider making the film without him.
They trusted me, in the respect they cultivate for the artistic choices of their directors. I thank them, and take full responsibility for my choice. Later we learned that a complaint had been filed. Filming having started, it was legally unthinkable for them to change actors.”
After the Parisian article earlier this week, new testimonies accuse actor Sofiane Bennacer of “”sexual and physical violence“. In Today’s Liberation, the newspaper devotes 4 pages to the “Scandal of the Almond Trees” as they write on the front page.
As a reminder, it was revealed last Tuesday that actor Sofiane Bennacer, currently playing Les Amandiers by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, was indicted last October for rape and violence against several ex-girlfriends. The actor was placed under judicial supervision, with a ban on going to Strasbourg, Mulhouse, as well as in Île-de-France. Sofiane Bennacer denies these accusations and filed a complaint against the four complainants for defamation.
Actor Sofiane Bennacer (Les Amandiers) indicted for rape and violence
Today the daily Release reveals a new investigation, developed over 8 months, by collecting the words of two new victims. They blame him for “sexual and physical violence“. They decided not to file a complaint.
The first, under the assumed name Anaïs, accuses the actor of “rape“. The facts allegedly occurred in early 2019, when she was an art student in Mulhouse. The second, Mathilde, (also a borrowed name), former partner of the actor, testified to “repeated sexual violence” during her relationship with him in the summer of 2019, when she was a student. He also allegedly exercised “pressures” on his career. Contacted by Liberation about these two new accusations, the actor affirms that he has “never raped or hit anyone“.
Originally from Marseille, Sofiane Bennacer, 25, made her stage debut in 2018 in Fonts! by Sonia Chiambretto and Phaedra’s Love directed by Sarah Kane and Louis Dieuzaide. In 2021, the public discovered him on television in an episode of the series La Stagiaire worn by Michèle Bernier, and in the cinema in This music does not play for anyone by Samuel Benchetrit.
Coadic Guirec / Bestimage Sofiane Bennacer at the photocall of the film “Les Amandiers” during the 15th Francophone Film Festival of Angoulême
He is currently playing in Les Amandiers, in the main male role. In this autofiction which looks back on Valeria Bruni Tedeschi’s training as an actress, at the end of the 1980s, at the École des Amandiers de Nanterre by Pierre Romans and Patrice Chéreau, he portrays the dark and tortured Etienne, who falls in love of the heroine Stella. A character inspired by the tragic fate of Thierry Ravel, who died in 1991 at the age of 28.
Les Amandiers: drugs, alcohol, illness… the tragic fates of the members of Patrice Chéreau’s troupe
For the record, Sofiane Bennacer had recently been shortlisted by the Académie des Césars as Revelations of the year. He was finally excluded from the list of Revelations, following the announcement of his indictment for rape and violence.
“The Bureau of the Académie des César, in agreement with the Revelations Committee, has decided that the information published by the press since November 22 concerning the indictment of actor Sofiane Bennacer and the judicial review imposed on him, commands , without prejudice to the presumption of innocence and out of respect for the alleged victims, to remove it from the list of 32 Revelations, proposed as an indication on November 16 for the César 2023.
The Board of the Academy has also decided to open, as soon as possible, a reflection with all the decision-making bodies of the Association, in order to consider a modification of the Rules which govern the organization of the Ceremony of César, Regulation which does not, to date, provide for the hypothesis of a legal challenge to a participant in an eligible film.”
Our podcast on the film Les Amandiers, with Valeria Bruni Tedeschi at the microphone: