French actor Adèle Haenel confronts director Ruggia in sexual assault trial

Adèle Haenel, a French actor who has accused a filmmaker of sexually assaulting her when she was a child, shouted at him to “shut up” before storming out in the middle of his trial.

Christophe Ruggia, 59, was speaking in his defence at the time, arguing he had merely tried to “protect” Haenel during the early days of her fame.

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

Haenel has said she was controlled and manipulated by Ruggia when she was a child and that nobody protected her when she was “asked to do things in the name of art”.

She alleges that Ruggia started molesting her during the shoot, when she was 12.

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

In 2019, she gave a lengthy and emotional interview to French outlet Mediapart in which she detailed what she called the “sexual harassment” she suffered at Ruggia’s hands.

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

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

Haenel said that on set Ruggia would touch her constantly, kiss her on the cheek, put his hands on her hips and call her “my darling” and “sweetie”, and that he progressively isolated her from her family, telling her parents not to come to the film set to avoid distracting her.

Other actors and technicians on the set told Mediapart of the unhealthy atmosphere.

A summary of the charges quoted by French media says Ruggia and Haenel continued to see each other every Saturday after the shooting of Les Diables wrapped up, “under the guise of film lessons” during which Ruggia would allegedly touch her sexually and put his hands in her underwear.

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

When she eventually cut off links with him, he kept writing her numerous letters, according to the charge sheet. She later plunged into a deep depression which lasted until she was 28, she said.

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

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

“I did not see that my adulation for her, and the hopes I placed in her, might – given her young age – come across at times as irksome. If this is what happened… I ask her pardon,” he said in a statement in 2019.

At the trial, prosecutor Camille Poch said she had “no doubt” the allegations were truthful and said Ruggia’s defence was “unlikely”. “He made the choice to sexually assault her. He had his whole 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 due to stand trial next year. Film directors Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon have also been accused of rape and sexual offences by actress Judith Godrèche.

Haenel’s lawyers have requested €30,000 (£24,800) in compensation for moral damages and €31,000 to cover the cost of her psychologists’ fees.

A verdict is expected on 3 February.