The anti-sexual assault movement in the French film industry is getting more intense. Since April, sex scandals involving well-known filmmakers have been exposed one after another. After Le Nouvel Observateur magazine revealed that actor and director Nils Tavernier was accused of sexual assault by two women, on April 9 local time, Radio France took the lead in revealing that as many as ten people accused well-known director Philippe Lioret of sexual harassment.

Philippe Liore

The 68-year-old Leore entered the industry in 1980. He initially worked behind the scenes for live sound recording and sound effects recording, and worked under famous directors such as Michael Apted and Robert Altman. In 1993, when he was nearly 40, he switched to directing and wrote and directed the comedy "Falling from the Sky", which won the Best Screenplay and Best Director awards at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain.

In the following decades, Leore directed more than a dozen films, most of which were romantic comedies or warm and delicate family dramas. In comparison, "The Watcher", which tells the story of a lighthouse keeper, and "I'll Be Fine", which is about a girl overcoming the pain of losing her loved ones, have both been nominated for multiple César Awards and are considered his more successful works.

I'll Be Fine poster

In 2009, Liore took on serious themes for the first time and wrote and directed "Illegal Entry", which tells the story of smuggled immigrants. At the Berlin Film Festival that year, the film won the Catholic Humanitarian Award, and later won the Best Film Award at the Lumière Film Awards in France. It also won awards at many international film festivals, including Turin, Italy, Gijon, Spain, Warsaw, Poland, and Sofia, Bulgaria. At the end of the year, it was nominated for ten César Awards.

Son of John poster

In 2014, Philippe Liore was awarded the French Second Class Medal of Arts and Letters. Two years later, his self-written and directed French-Canadian co-production "Son of John" was nominated for two César Awards and participated in the Tiantan Award competition at the 7th Beijing International Film Festival, and finally won the Best Supporting Actor Award.

This time, French Radio collected testimonies from as many as ten actresses, accusing Philippe Liore of various inappropriate behaviors, especially during the casting process of the film "Toutes nos envies", including inappropriate words and deeds such as forced kisses, indecent gestures and over-the-top requests.

"The Quest of a Lifetime" is adapted from the novel of the same name. It tells the story of two judges helping a single mother escape from loan sharks. It stars Marie Gillan and Vincent Linton. The film began casting in 2010, and director Leore personally interviewed more than 50 actresses. Now, many of them say that there were big problems with the audition. Hélène Seuzaret, an actress who has now made some name for herself in the French television circle, said that she was still a newcomer at the time, so the director asked her to audition on Saturday when the studio was closed, and she didn't think much about it. When she arrived at his office, she found that no one else was there. Then the director chose an intimate scene between the heroine and her husband for her to audition with him.

"I said to myself, 'Why did you choose this scene? And he is the director, not the actor I will play opposite in the future.' This really embarrassed me." When leaving, he also tried to force a kiss on her. "This is actually abusing power for personal gain, because he knew that we were waiting for his nod and whether we could get the role depended on his opinion, so he took the opportunity to kiss her." Hélène Sozare told RFI reporters.

Another actress, Emilie Deville, recalled that she auditioned for the role of a mother in "The One Life to Live" and the director personally rehearsed with her. She played the role of the mother and he played the role of the young son. "He acted like a six-year-old child, kneeling on the ground, holding my hips tightly, putting his face on my private parts, and asked me to touch his hair and comfort him, the so-called child, even though he was already 53 years old at the time!"

Another actress, who wished to remain anonymous, said she had a similar experience in the 1990s. The director had invited her to lunch to discuss roles, and when she was leaving, she was forcibly grabbed by him and tried to kiss her forcibly. She recalled that he personally called her afterwards to apologize for his behavior. "It's true that he didn't rape me or blackmail me, but being kissed so roughly was also a humiliation," she said. "Why did he kiss me without my consent? Why did he treat me so roughly? At the time, I didn't realize it was sexual assault. But now looking back, I think it was sexual assault."

Amandine Devasmes (left), who starred in What to Expect in Life, came forward to accuse director Leore of inappropriate behavior

Amandine Dewasmes, who finally got the opportunity to perform in "The One and Only", also told the media how Leore forcibly touched her at the opening party. She managed to avoid his advances and completed the filming smoothly, but she always felt that the director was abusing his power for personal gain.

In addition, some actresses said that the director had asked them to "expose their breasts" during the audition for "The One Life to Live", but that was clearly not in the script. The assistant casting director of the film also confirmed to the media that Philippe Liore "unscrupulously touched the nipples of those actresses and put his face on the necks of the actresses."

As soon as the report came out, many French media contacted Philippe Lioré himself, who responded that "the relevant accusations are pure nonsense." His attorney later told the media that Lioré never had the idea of taking advantage of others. "Of course, he tried to seduce the opposite sex, which is entirely possible. However, he always stopped immediately after being rejected and would not force it."