The French actress Béatrice Dalle has told a court she plans to find a career in film for a man she married in jail while he was awaiting trial accused of rape.
Dalle, 40, first encountered Guénaël Meziani when they co-starred in a film, Tête d'Or (Golden Head), produced inside a Breton prison. She appeared as a princess who fell for a prisoner, played by Meziani.
Dalle became a voluntary prison visitor, met him again and fell in love.
They were married at the Hermitage jail in her native city of Brest, also in Brittany, in January.
Meziani, 31, is now standing trial for rape, armed violence and false imprisonment. He admits that he hit a 29-year-old woman friend but says sex took place with her consent and denies holding her against her will in her own flat for five days.
Dalle told the court: "Before our marriage, he told me everything. I repeatedly made clear to him that what he had done was unacceptable."
According to French court reports, she added: "If I had any fears for my physical well-being, I would never have married him." She said she had faith in Meziani and promised to help his rehabilitation by finding him work in the film industry.
Dalle, who has had a high profile career since her starring role in the sexually explicit 1986 film Betty Blue, has had convictions for drug offences and theft.
Meziani's trial continues.
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