French director on trial as Adèle Haenel breaks silence

In 2019, French actress Adèle Haenel disclosed to journalists from the independent platform Mediapart about her harmful relationship with director Christophe Ruggia. "I would always sit on the couch, and he on the chair opposite. Then he would move closer to me and start sticking to me. He kissed my neck, smelled my hair, stroked my thigh, and slowly moved his hand towards my crotch. He would start putting his hand under my shirt, looking for my breasts. He was aroused, I would push him away, but it wasn't enough. I always had to move. When I refused to have sex, he got angry," she shared publicly.

Adèle was only 12 years old when her relationship with Ruggia commenced - a director already recognized then. She acted in his controversial film "Devils," which dealt with incestuous love among teenagers. "He often touched her, kissed her (...). I told myself that this is not the kind of relationship an adult should have with a child. It worried me. Ruggia, when preparing scenes, kept me away from the children," commented actress Hélène Seretti, who cared for the young stars of the film.

The journalists' investigation revealed that Ruggia manipulated children on the film set and overstepped their boundaries. Many witnesses reported inappropriate behaviour by the director towards the 12-year-old Adèle. Even his partner at the time commented on the matter, trying to confront him about the molestation allegations made by Adèle Haenel. He did not deny it. He admitted that it hurt him that she left him, remembering she was underage.

Adèle, in an interview with journalists, said that she repeatedly tried to tell her colleagues in the industry what was happening between her and the director, but each time she was told that Ruggia had done a lot for her and that without him, she would be nothing. She finally confided in the director of her second film, Céline Sciamma. The breakthrough came in 2019 when a documentary on Michael Jackson appeared. Shocked by this story, she decided to speak about what she herself had experienced.

Ruggia initially denied the accusations of molestation. However, he later issued a statement claiming it wasn't molestation but admiration. Adèle supposedly accused him because he refused her a role. After journalists from Mediapart published the article, prosecutors decided to open an investigation against the director. It didn't take long. Ruggia was arrested, his home was searched, and shortly after, he was charged with sexual assault on a minor.

Now foreign media report on the next stage of this scandalous case. The trial against the director has begun in Paris. Haenel claims Ruggia molested her for three years, starting with the film shoot in 2001 when she was 12, and the director was 36. The abuse allegedly continued during promotions and film festivals. Ruggia still denies the charges.

According to the Deadline portal, the trial is seen as groundbreaking for the #MeToo movement in France. Haenel risked her career by revealing the allegations because the country was not yet open to the #MeToo movement, and the actress did not receive broad support from the film industry. Today, people gathered outside the court with banners reading, "Adèle, we believe you."

Adèle Haenel has quit acting. Her last role was in "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" in 2019. The film was nominated for a Golden Globe and won a special award at the Cannes Film Festival. Haenel could have successfully continued her career in the film industry but couldn't. In 2020, Haenel left the César Awards ceremony when Roman Polanski's victory in the Best Director category for the film "An Officer and a Spy" was announced. This event was seen as a slap in the face for the actress due to unresolved charges against Polanski. In 2023, Haenel announced in an open letter that she was leaving the film industry because of the "general leniency" towards "sexual predators."