Prime Video is quietly pushing on with the release of new French Original series Alphonse against the backdrop of an impending court appearance for its director Nicolas Bedos on a sexual assault charge.
The streamer announced on Wednesday that the first three episodes of the drama, starring Oscar-winning The Artist star Jean Dujardin, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Nicole Garcia and Pierre Arditi, will be made available on October 12 on Prime Video in 240 territories worldwide.
The streamer has kept the precise details of Dujardin’s character under wraps apart from the fact he is a man who tries to satisfy the wishes of the women who cross his path.
Popular actor and director Bedos is due in court in February 2024 on a charge of sexual assault while under the influence of alcohol, which carries a sentence of a maximum five-year prison term and $87,000 (75,000 euros) fine.
Against this backdrop, the streamer has not organized any press or junkets for the show, instead simply releasing key art on Wednesday as a well as a more detailed synopsis on the eve of its launch.
It reads: “Reconnecting with a father he barely knew, Alphonse, a man in his forties in the midst of professional and marital turmoil, discovers a surprising calling. His path will then intersect with a galaxy of women, each more fascinating and eccentric than the last, plunging him into the heart of a story that is both perilous, transgressive, and full of tenderness.”
Bedos’ upcoming court appearance is related to a complaint filed at the end of June by a 25-year-woman who accused Bedos of accosting her in a night club and touched her inappropriately.
Bedos’s lawyer Julia Minkowski later said that her client did not wish to question the woman’s account but held that any such gesture was unintentional.
“Such a gesture, which he does not remember, which would have occurred on the dance floor of a nightclub, could only have been accidental under the influence of intoxication,” she said.
In the meantime, investigative website Mediapart reported in late July that a second preliminary investigation was opened on July 5 into three other separate allegations against the actor. Minkowski declined to comment further on these fresh accusations.
Pressed for comment on the strategy and its response to the charges against Bedos, Prime Video replied with an official response: “It is up to the courts to establish the facts and we respect the fundamental principle of presumption of innocence.”
