French filmmaker Christophe Ruggia, who was accused in 2019 by “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” actor Adele Haenel of having sexually abused her when she was a minor, was found guilty of sexual assault by a Paris court. He received a four-year sentence, including two years under house arrest and two years suspended.
In November 2019, Haenel alleged in an interview with investigative magazine Mediapart that she had been abused by Ruggia during and after the filming of the movie “Les Diables” (“The Devils”) in the early 2000s, when she was between 12 and 15 years old. She then filed a police complaint against the director.
Ruggia repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. In December, the Paris prosecutor requested a five-year sentence, including two years under house arrest with electronic monitoring and three years suspended.
Haenel, who is now 35, was France’s first prominent star to accuse a filmmaker of sexual assault in the country’s #MeToo movement. She retired from acting in 2023 out of frustration with the French film industry, which she has accused of being complacent toward sexual abusers. In 2020, she won best actress at the Cesar Awards for her performance in Celine Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” and famously walked out the ceremony when Roman Polanski won best director for “An Officer and a Spy.” Outraged, Haenel shouted “Bravo to pedophilia!” on her way out. The uproar sparked by Polanski’s win and Haenel’s exit prompted a major overhaul of the Cesar Awards’ governing body and members.
During the trial, which marked the first of France’s #MeToo movement, Haenel said she’d been pressured to have empathy towards Ruggia, who hasn’t directed a film since the case and has been ousted from local orgs.
“Assaulting children has consequences,” Haenel said in court. “Everyone asks me to weep for Mr Ruggia. But who cared about the child? Attacking children like that, it’s not OK. It has consequences. Nobody helped this child.”
