In an article in French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche released today (June 11), Maiwenn belatedly detailed the reasons behind her reported attack on a French journalist earlier this year ahead of the world premiere of her film Jeanne Du Barry in Cannes.
On March 7, Edwy Plenel, editor-in-chief of French publication Mediapart, accused the actress/filmmaker of physically attacking him in a Paris restaurant in February without provocation, pulling his hair and spitting in his face before storming out of the restaurant. The incident attracted broad media interest in part fuelled by the selection of Jeanne Du Barry as Cannes’ opening film as well as Maiwenn’s decision to cast Johnny Depp as King Louis XV following the actor’s legal face-offs with ex-wife Amber Heard.
In Journal du Dimanche’s interview, Maiwenn said she wanted to “set the record straight” on the incident with Plenel, long thought to be her reaction to Mediapart’s investigations into her ex-husband Luc Besson.
The publication was the first to publish reports from several women accusing the director of sexual harassment and assault in 2018, including from Belgian-Dutch actress Sand Van Roy who went on to press formal charges. (The charges were dropped by the Paris public prosecutor’s office in 2021 following a lengthy investigation and no other women have pressed charges against Besson.)
In today’s article, Maiwenn detailed a sequence of events that included a meeting with a Mediapart journalist in late 2018 for an off-the-record conversation, and giving testimony during the Van Roy investigation in June 2020 on the order of the court.
In admitting to her alleged actions, Maiwenn said she felt betrayed by the Mediapart journalist she met in 2018, who she insists promised to give her 48 hours’ notice before publication of any future investigative pieces for the sake of the filmmaker’s daughter with Besson.
However, in January 2021, Paris Match published excerpts from her court hearing, with Mediapart following suit in March of the same year and publishing more of the testimony without informing Maiwenn in advance.
“I don’t blame Mediapart for their investigations into Luc Besson; I blame them for what they have done to me,” she said, alluding to the journalist.
“It was a cataclysm… I felt morally violated,” Maïwenn added. “There’s no justification for attacking a journalist, but there’s no justification for violating a woman’s intimacy and trust.”
The director filed a civil suit against Paris Match but lost and opted not to file a similar claim against Mediapart.
Maiwenn added that, following the restaurant incident, Plenel had asked for an apology and that she had instead “proposed a discussion” – an offer she claimed he rejected. “He doesn’t want to discuss, or try to understand, he just wants me to bow down.”
Mediapart investigations
Mediapart has become known for its in-depth investigations into incidents of sexual misconduct within the French audiovisual industry, including most recently an April report in which French actor Gerard Depardieu was accused of sexual misconduct by 13 women.
Maiwenn insisted she is fully supportive of the MeToo movement, while adding, “I think that we need to be careful to avoid drifting towards a form of puritanism that would lead to intellectual and cultural censorship.”
French authorities have investigated the restaurant incident in the wake of Plenel’s police complaint, but to date have not announced any charges against the filmmaker.
On June 21, France’s Court of Cassation is due to make its official ruling on Van Roy’s sexual-assault allegations against Besson. In May 2022, the Paris Court of Appeal upheld a decision to dismiss the case declaring the director innocent of any crime; however, under French law, the Court of Cassation can overturn that decision based on legal examination.
Despite the off-screen drama, Jeanne Du Barry has been doing robust business at home and attracting further territory sales abroad for sales agent Goodfellas (formerly Wild Bunch International).
North American rights were recently bought by Vertical while the film has been a box office success in France, ranking as the fifth best performing feature in May with 656,000 tickets sold. It also marks the biggest success for distributor Le Pacte since 2019’s Les Misérables.
Maiwenn told Le Journal du Dimanche she hopes the incident won’t permanently overshadow her filmmaking career: “I’ve been making films for the past 17 years, against a backdrop of women fighting for respect. We can’t reduce everything to the Johnny Depp controversy and turn the few nuances I’m trying to introduce into the debate against me and my films.”
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