Gérard Depardieu received’t simply be going through two ladies who accuse him of sexual assault when he walks into a Paris courtroom on Monday. France’s most well-known male actor will even be confronting a nation lengthy criticised for failing to deal with sexual violence — significantly when dedicated by its strongest figures.
Depardieu, 76, is accused of assaulting a set dresser and an assistant director through the 2021 filming of Les Volets Verts (The Green Shutters). While greater than 20 ladies have publicly accused him of sexual misconduct, that is the primary time a kind of instances has gone to trial.
It can also be essentially the most outstanding post-#MeToo period case in France, testing whether or not a nation famed for its tradition of seduction is ready to carry its cultural titans accountable.
Prosecutors say Depardieu trapped one of many ladies along with his legs earlier than groping her waist and breasts in entrance of witnesses. In an interview with investigative outlet Mediapart, the 54-year-old set dresser mentioned Depardieu shouted on set that he “couldn’t even get it up” due to the warmth, then advised her: “Come and touch my big parasol. I’ll stick it in your [nether regions].” She mentioned he then grabbed her forcefully and needed to be pulled away by bodyguards.
A second girl, a 34-year-old assistant director, alleged she was groped each on set and on the street. The plaintiffs’ identities haven’t been disclosed to guard alleged victims of sexual violence.
Depardieu has denied all allegations.
In an open letter revealed in Le Figaro in October 2023, he wrote: “Never, but never, have I abused a woman. To think that I have hurt someone or made them feel uncomfortable is intolerable to me.”
He added, “I have only ever been guilty of being too loving, too generous, or of having a temperament that is too strong.”
His lawyer, Jérémie Assous, known as the case baseless and mentioned Depardieu — who lately underwent a quadruple bypass and has diabetes — will attend the two-day trial, reportedly with breaks scheduled to accommodate his well being situation.
France has usually been ambivalent — even resistant — towards the #MeToo motion. While Hollywood noticed highly effective males fall swiftly and publicly, the French movie business was slower to reply. Some dismissed #MeToo as an American export incompatible with French values, citing issues over free expression and what they seen as an erosion of flirtation tradition.
Roman Polanski, convicted within the United States of illegal intercourse with a minor and accused by a number of different ladies, continues to stay and work in France with near-total impunity. Despite worldwide outcry, he stays a embellished determine in French cinema. His 2020 César Award for Best Director — for An Officer and a Spy — prompted a number of ladies, together with actress Adèle Haenel, to stroll out of the ceremony in protest.
Roman Polanski. File.
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Yet the business provided little institutional pushback, highlighting a deep-rooted reluctance to confront abuse when it includes revered cultural figures.
In February, director Christophe Ruggia was convicted of sexually abusing Haenel when she was a baby. The actress, who had already give up the movie business in protest, has turn into one of many nation’s most outstanding voices on abuse.
Judith Godrèche, an actor and filmmaker, has additionally emerged as a main determine. In February 2024, in a televised testimony, she addressed a French parliamentary fee, accusing administrators Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon of sexually exploiting her as a teenager — allegations each males deny. “This is not about desire or love,” she advised lawmakers. “It is about power. It is about a system that enables silence.”
Director Judith Godreche, middle, poses with palms protecting their mouth upon arrival on the premiere of the movie ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ on the 77th worldwide movie pageant, Cannes, southern France, Wednesday, May 15, 2024.
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That identical fee has known as main actors and producers — together with Jean Dujardin — to testify. Several reportedly requested that their appearances be held behind closed doorways.
Anouk Grinberg, a revered actor who appeared in Les Volets Verts, has publicly supported the plaintiffs. She described Depardieu’s conduct as vulgar and disturbing, saying she felt “a sense of shame” on set.
At the time of the alleged 2021 assaults, Depardieu was already underneath formal investigation for rape. In 2018, actor Charlotte Arnould accused him of raping her at his dwelling. That case continues to be lively, and in August 2024, prosecutors requested it go to trial.
Over a profession spanning 5 a long time, Depardieu starred in additional than 200 movies, together with Cyrano de Bergerac, Jean de Florette, Green Card, and The Man within the Iron Mask. But his off-screen controversies have lengthy made headlines, from drunk driving to urinating within the aisle of a airplane.
A 2023 France Télévisions documentary, La Chute de l’Ogre (The Fall of the Ogre), reignited debate about his impunity. It confirmed footage of the actor throughout a 2018 journey to North Korea, making sexually inappropriate remarks to a feminine interpreter and showing to sexualize a younger lady using a horse.
For a long time, conduct like this was dismissed as a part of his larger-than-life persona. Today, that legacy is underneath direct problem.
Godrèche, who advised lawmakers she was 14 when Jacquot first exploited her, has known as for reforms to France’s statute of limitations on baby intercourse crimes and new protections for minors within the arts. Her testimony — alongside these of different survivors — has introduced uncommon political consideration to a tradition of silence that many say pervades French cinema.
Still, resistance stays.
In 2018, actor Catherine Deneuve and greater than 100 outstanding French ladies signed an open letter in Le Monde newspaper defending what they known as a “freedom to bother.” The letter argued that flirtation shouldn’t be conflated with harassment and warned in opposition to American-style puritanism.
Published – March 24, 2025 02:54 pm IST
