Award-winning French actress Adèle Haenel has accused the prominent French filmmaker Christophe Ruggia of inappropriate “touching” and of “sexually harassing” her when she was aged between 12 and 15. Haenel, now aged 30, whose story is supported by numerous documents and witness accounts, describes the director's behaviour as “paedophilia”. In this lengthy investigation, Mediapart reveals the long journey the actress has undergone, from the period when it was “impossible” to speak out to the point when continuing to stay silent had become “unbearable”. In a written statement, Christophe Ruggia has “categorically” denied the claims. Marine Turchi reports.
The award-winning French actress Adèle Haenel has accused the film director Christophe Ruggia of “touching” and “sexually harassing” her during a period when she was aged between 12 and 15. In this investigation by Mediapart, Haenel, now 30 and who was an unknown child actress when she worked with the director on the 2002 film Les Diables (English title, The Devils), speaks publicly for the first time about the actions of the film-maker, who was then aged 36 to 39, which she describes as “paedophilia”.
