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00:00film director Benoit Jaco has been placed under formal investigation for
00:04allegedly raping two actresses in a high-profile Me Too case that has rocked
00:09France. We're going to talk more about this with culture editor Eve Jackson who
00:12joins me on the set. Hi Eve, what's the latest?
00:15Well 77 year old Benoit Jaco and another filmmaker 80 year old Jacques
00:19Doyant were detained for questioning earlier this week on Monday. Now this was
00:23over as you said alleged sexual abuse of much younger actresses who have starred
00:27in their films. These are accusations that both of them have denied. Now
00:30investigators opened this probe after the French actress Judith Godrej filed
00:36a complaint early this year against Jaco for allegedly raping her. Now it was
00:40alleged to have happened during a relationship that they had that started
00:43in the 1980s when she was just 14 and he was 25 years her senior. Now in the wake
00:50of her revelations actress Julia Roy filed a complaint for sexual assault
00:55against Jaco between 2013 and 2018. She has appeared in four of Jaco's films and
01:01Islid Lubezko has accused him of rape during a toxic relationship and that
01:05began when she was a minor and he was 52 between the years 1998 and 2007. So on
01:12Wednesday yesterday Jaco was placed under formal investigation. Now this is
01:17called mise en examen in France. It's the stage that comes after questioning but
01:21it is before being formally charged just to try and explain that legal
01:25situation. He's been released from custody but he does remain under
01:28judicial supervision. That means he can't work as a director and he has been
01:32advised to take and to seek psychological help. All right so that's
01:35in regard to Benoit Jaco. What about the other director Jacques Doyon who was
01:39also taken into police custody on Monday? Well that was related to a separate
01:42complaint filed by the actress Judith Godrej. She accuses Doyon of sexually
01:46assaulting her during a film shoot when she was 15 in the 1989 film which was
01:52called The Fifteen-Year-Old Girl. Now at the time the filmmaker was in a
01:55relationship with the British actress and singer Jane Birkin. Now Doyon he
01:59denies all of those allegations. He's been allowed home but prosecutors have
02:03yet to make a decision on his case. But in recent days Jeannie, three more
02:08people have come forward accusing him of sexual assault. So what's happened Ari
02:13the actress, Judith Godrej's accusations, I mean she's really been at the
02:16forefront of this new Me Too movement in France. She certainly has and she said on
02:20Instagram yesterday on Wednesday that she felt heard even though her own case
02:25is not strictly within the statute of limitations. Now Godrej has really
02:29become this leading voice in France's Me Too movement since she spoke out and
02:33since that happened in May French lawmakers voted to create a commission
02:38to investigate sexual and gender-based violence in all of the cultural sectors
02:42and more and more people are coming forward since she sort of opened
02:48this pathway. The head of France's top cinema institution, the CNC, Dominic
02:52Boutonnat, he's been given a three-year prison sentence including two years
02:57suspended after being convicted of sexually assaulting his godson in 2020.
03:02Now he'll serve his one-year jail term at home. He'll have to wear an electronic
03:06tag and of course the screen icon Gerard Depardieu, he's set to stand trial in
03:12October over accusations of sexually assaulting two women. He does deny both
03:17charges. Eve, thank you for that. That's our culture editor Eve Jackson. Thanks so
03:20much for coming on the set and we'll be touching base with you again in about an
03:23hour's time for some lighter culture news. Thanks so much.