Why France Stuck With Its Film Czar Dominique Boutonnat Despite His Sexual Assault Indictment

variety.com:

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentLast week, the French government reappointed Dominique Boutonnat for a second three-year term as president of the National Film Board (CNC), the country’s most powerful film institution, in a controversial decision that illustrates the country’s halfhearted embrace of the #MeToo movement.Boutonnat, a former producer and financier with close ties with newly reelected French president Emmanuel Macron, was indicted in February 2021 for alleged sexual assault of his 22-year-old godson the year prior.

After a lengthy investigation, the prosecutor’s office has requested that the case be brought before a criminal court. A judge will soon rule if Boutonnat will face trial or if the case will be dismissed.

Boutonnat’s appointment is the latest signal that France, which remains a major entertainment market, is less eager than other countries to turn its back on artists and executives who become enmeshed in sex scandals.

Since the Harvey Weinstein story broke in 2017, there have been a few efforts to make the business more equitable and inclusive in France — Cannes was the first film festival in the world to sign a gender parity pledge, for instance — but the movement has mostly failed to garner widespread support.