French actor Adèle Haenel faces director Ruggia in a sexual assault trial

Adèle Haenel, a French actor who has accused a filmmaker of sexually assaulting her as a child, yelled at him to “shut up” before walking out in the middle of her trial.

Christophe Ruggia, 59, spoke in his defense at the time, arguing that he had only tried to “protect” Haenel in the early days of her fame.

A French prosecutor has sought two years of house arrest for Ruggia, 59, who Haenel has said assaulted her in the early 2000s when she was between 12 and 15 and he was in his 30s.

Ruggia has said the allegations of sexual abuse are “pure lies”.

He also accused Haenel of wanting revenge on him for not hiring her for more roles after she starred in his 2002 film. The Devils (The Devils).

Haenel has said that she was controlled and manipulated by Ruggia as a child and that no one protected her when “she was asked to do things in the name of art”.

She alleges that Ruggia began molesting her during filming, when she was 12 years old.

Haenel, who starred in the acclaimed 2019 film Portrait of a Lady on Fire, publicly quit the French film industry last year over what she said was its “general complacency” towards sexual predators.

In 2019, she gave a long and emotional interview to the French channel Mediapart in which she detailed what she called the “sexual harassment” she suffered at the hands of Ruggia.

He said he had decided to speak out about his alleged abuse after watching the documentary Leaving Neverland, which explored singer Michael Jackson’s relationships with children.

“It made me see that I had been clinging too long to Ruggia’s version, that it had all been a love story,” she said, adding that it made her understand the mechanisms of “control and fascination.”

Haenel said that on set Ruggia would constantly touch her, kiss her on the cheek, put his hands on her hips and call her “my darling” and “cute,” and that he gradually isolated her from her family, telling the their parents not to do it. come to the set of the film so as not to distract her.

Other actors and technicians on the set explained to Mediapart the unhealthy atmosphere.

A summary of the charges cited by French media says that Ruggia and Haenel continued to see each other every Saturday after filming on Les Diables ended, “under the guise of film lessons” during which Ruggia sexually touched her and put hands his underwear.

Investigators said they found notes on Ruggia’s computer in which he wrote about the “overwhelming sensuality” of 12-year-old Haenel.

When she finally cut ties with him, he continued to write her numerous letters, according to the charge sheet. He later sank into a deep depression that lasted until he was 28, he said.

“When I was under his thumb I felt dirty and wanted to die,” Haenel told investigators.

Ruggia has admitted to having made “mistakes” in his conduct towards Haenel.

“I didn’t see that my admiration for her, and the hopes I placed in her, could come across, given her young age, as annoying at times. If that’s what happened… I apologize,” he said. say in a statement in 2019.

At the trial, prosecutor Camille Poch said she had “no doubt” the allegations were true and said Ruggia’s defense was “unlikely”. “He chose to sexually assault her. He had all his conscience as a grown man to decide to act otherwise.”

Haenel was the first prominent French actor to accuse the French film industry of turning a blind eye to sexual assault.

Since then, actor Gérard Depardieu has been accused of rape and is to be tried next year. So have the film directors Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon accused of rape and sexual crimes of the actress Judith Godrèche.

Haenel’s lawyers have sought €30,000 (£24,800) in damages and €31,000 to cover the cost of his psychologists’ fees.

The verdict is expected on February 3.