An investigation was opened following a complaint from actor Francis Renaud for sexual harassment against film director André Téchiné, the Evreux prosecutor's office announced on Sunday March 3.
Actor Francis Renaud, aged 56, “filed a complaint against Mr. Téchiné for sexual harassment, against [casting director Gérard] Molevrier for sexual assault, and against X for death threats,” told the Agency France-Presse the public prosecutor of Evreux, Rémi Coutin. “I have asked the police to open an investigation, without retaining a precise criminal classification for the moment because the hearing of Mr. Renaud calls on me for the moment to exercise the greatest caution” , he clarified.
During a "long hearing" at the Vernon police station, in Eure, Mr. Renaud filed a complaint against Mr. Téchiné for "stroking his hand and telling him that he was troubling him", according to Mr. Coutin. “If there was only that, [it is] not likely to be qualified as sexual harassment,” underlined the magistrate, who called not to “cast opprobrium” on the filmmaker “ on the basis of these facts alone (…), insufficiently precise”. “At first glance, the facts that Francis Renaud denounces are all time-barred because of their age,” he added.
Concerning the complaint for sexual assault against Mr. Moulevrier, the actor “speaks of facts which could perhaps be qualified as sexual assault, he speaks of caresses in particular of his penis through clothes”, there is “ twenty or twenty-five years,” he said. Here too “the question of possible prescription” arises.
A second hearing of the complainant requested
“It seems to me at this stage difficult to envisage with certainty criminal qualifications” for the investigation, concluded Mr. Coutin, who said he requested a second hearing of the complainant by the police. If the investigation continues, the Evreux public prosecutor's office will relinquish it in favor of the Paris public prosecutor's office, the facts having "all occurred in Paris or in the Paris region".
Francis Renaud accused Mr. Téchiné on Friday on X using the hashtag
Director of around 30 eclectic films, André Téchiné, aged 80, was described as a “giant of French cinema” at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.
