In a recent interview with the Parisien, Isild Le Besco, a famous French actress, made surprising revelations about a period in her life. When she was only 16 years old, she began a relationship with Benoît Jacquot, a filmmaker 36 years her senior. Starting in a professional context, this relationship quickly turned into a toxic bond, marked by psychological violence according to her.
This control would have deeply influenced her personality and life path. In the long term, it would have even led the actress to other abusive relationships. "What is very serious is that, as I lived this relationship at 16, it was constitutive of my personality. One control generates other controls," she asserts.
Le Besco claims to have endured constant criticism about her physique and violent outbursts from Jacquot. She is now considering filing a complaint against him, as well as against director Jacques Doillon, who allegedly sidelined her from a film after she rejected his advances.
These revelations come in a context where both men are targeted by similar accusations from other actresses such as Judith Godrèche who filed a complaint against Benoît Jacquot for "rape with violence on a minor under 15 years old".
Complaints from actresses are multiplying in French cinema, undoubtedly requiring a new approach to male-female relationships… Only justice will have the last word in all these affairs.