The producer admitted “an administrative error”. The director is also accused of having used verbal abuse on the set.
Catherine Corsini’s latest film is the subject of suspicions of harassment and an irregularity concerning a scene involving an underage actress who cost her financial aid, AFP learned on Monday from concordant sources.
Filmed in Corsica, The return was the subject of a rare measure: the National Cinema Center deprived him of his help because a scene involving a minor had not been declared to a commission responsible for studying requests for filming with children, the organization told AFP, confirming information from Telerama a you Parisian.
“This breach of social law is materially constituted and is not denied by the producer” of the film, and “the CNC is therefore required to withdraw the aid”, indicated the institution.
According to a source familiar with the matter, the script was submitted to the commission, but without the scene which was shot and cut during editing. This scene was explicitly sexual, simulated, involving an actress under the age of sixteen. In total, the film had received 680,000 euros in aid out of a budget of 4.7 million.
Two reports
Asked by AFP about this shooting, the Paris public prosecutor’s office indicated that a report denouncing in particular sexualized scenes featuring adolescents had been sent to it in November 2022: “This report was sent to the brigade for the protection of minors for the first verifications which consist in determining the legal qualifications of the facts denounced and the competent public prosecutor’s office”.
In addition, a report relating to working conditions was reported during filming to the joint cinema body responsible for these subjects, which investigated and wrote a report, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Another source, also wishing to remain anonymous, explains that members of the set have complained about the director’s verbal abuse and his outbursts, and mentions possible inappropriate gestures from other members of the team.
Ousted from Cannes?
Contacted by AFP, the producer of the film, Elisabeth Perez, did not wish to react. Nearby Parisianshe had mentioned “an administrative error” about the non-declaration of the incriminated scene and recognized “tensions on the set”, but denied any “verbal or physical violence on the part of Catherine, nor in general on the set “.
Telerama et The Parisian had revealed the suspicions around the film after the announcement on Thursday of the Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival, saying that the film should be included.
The selection “has not been canceled but the board of directors wanted to know more about the situation of the work”, declared the Festival to Parisian. Asked by AFP, he declined to comment further.
