On the eve of the Cannes Film Festival, nine women, most anonymously, accuse Alain Sarde, a major French film producer, of raping or sexually assaulting them when they were minors or young actresses, in the women’s magazine ELLE on Monday.
The reported events mostly date back to the 1980s and 1990s and were not the subject of complaints, according to the magazine.
An actress “from television series from the 1990s-2000s” confesses under the name “Elsa” how the producer, who is now 72 years old, allegedly raped her when she was 15 years old, in 1985, under the pretext of a professional appointment for a role. in her private apartment in the 8th arrondissement of Paris.
Other women, whose names have been changed, report rape, attempted rape or what could be attempted pimping.
His lawyer denounces “false” accusations
The actresses, who claim to have seen their careers completely paralyzed and to have received no support from their agents whom they sometimes trusted, describe an identical modus operandi: invitations to the producer, attempts at seduction, offers of chocolates and attacks.
Contacted, the producer’s lawyer, Jacqueline Laffont, did not immediately respond.
In ELLE, Me Laffont denies these “lying” accusations, which attribute to him behaviors that he disapproves of and that are totally foreign to him (Alain Sarde), refutes them with the greatest firmness and claims to have never used the slightest violence or coercion. “His relationships with women whose consent has always been essential to him,” adds his lawyer.
Pimping Case Dismissed
The producer was accused of “rape” in 1997 in a pimping case involving political, artistic and sporting figures in France and internationally. He benefited from the dismissal of charges almost two years after being implicated by two young women, declared as witnesses in the context of the dismantling of a luxury prostitution ring in Paris.
Alain Sarde began in cinema with Jean Yanne and later worked as a collaborator of Roman Polanski. He later produced films by André Téchiné, Bertrand Tavernier and Jean-Luc Godard.
The 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival opens on Tuesday against a backdrop of rumors related to #MeToo, in a context of freedom of expression starring in particular the actress Judith Godrèche, who accused two figures of auteur cinema, Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon.
The latter will present on Wednesday a short film, “Me Too”, produced with a thousand victims of sexual violence who responded to its call.
Source: BFM TV
