Roman Polanski’s French Film Industry Support May Be Waning

The directors’ association, A.R.P., is not alone in moving against Mr. Polanski. On Nov. 14, Delphine Ernotte, the chief executive of France Télévisions, which helped finance the movie, said at a conference on gender equality that the decision was an “error of judgment.” “I understand the emotion, and the questions, raised by that decision,” Ms. Ernotte said.

Mr. Polanski has faced a renewed focus on his past this month largely because of a new allegation against him. On Nov. 8, Valentine Monnier, a photographer, accused Mr. Polanski of raping her in 1975, when she was 18, in a ski chalet in Switzerland.

Mr. Polanski propositioned her on a ski lift one day, Ms. Monnier told the French newspaper Le Parisien. She rejected him, but that night, he called her upstairs then threw himself on her, hit and raped her, she said. Mr. Polanski denies the allegation and his spokeswoman did not reply to a request to comment for this article.

Another allegation of sexual abuse in France’s film industry also appears to have changed the mood among filmmakers. On Nov. 3, Mediapart, an investigative news website, published an investigation into accusations by Adèle Haenel, a well-known actress here, who said that starting at age 12 she was sexually harassed by the director Christophe Ruggia on the set of “The Devils,” a 2002 film about orphans in a children’s home. She said that the behavior continued after the movie’s release.

Mr. Ruggia denied the allegations in a statement to Mediapart, but said that on the film set he had “made the mistake of playing Pygmalion,” which had led to “misunderstandings.” (In Greek mythology, Pygmalion was a sculptor who fell in love with one of his own carvings.)

In a follow-up interview by Mediapart live on YouTube, Ms. Haenel said she was sharing her story to help others. She wanted others who had experienced abuse to know that they are not alone, she said, and encouraged them to come forward, too.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/19/movies/roman-polanski-metoo-france-adele-haenel.html?emc=rss&partner=rss