French Actor Depardieu Goes On Trial On Sexual Assault Charges

Gerard Depardieu, a French actor accused of sexually abusing two women while filming a scene in 2021, will stand trial in Paris on Monday. He has already been charged with assault and rape.

Depardieu, 76, who has produced more than 200 movies and television shows, is facing charges of improper behavior from around 20 women for the first time since going on trial.

He is the most well-known actor to face racism accusations in French cinema.

The trial, which will take place at 12:30 p.m. (12:30 p.m. GMT) before the Paris criminal court, is alleged to have sexually assaulted a woman during Jean Becker’s “Les Volets Verts” (“The Green Shutters” filming in 2021.

A Greek woman is given three life sentences for killing three daughters.

A 54-year-old set dresser and a 34-year-old assistant director, Anouk Grinberg, a well-known actor who appeared in the movie, have supported the two plaintiffs. Both women make allegations of sexual abuse.

Depardieu was constantly making “salacious remarks” during the filming, according to Grinberg, who claimed producers knew they were “hiring an abuser.”

Due to the actor’s poor health, the trial was originally scheduled to take place in October 2024.

According to Depardieu’s attorney Jeremie Assous, “he will be there” this time.

Assous predicted that the court would soon decide the case “in Gerard Depardieu’s favor” in a statement to the RMC broadcaster on Monday morning.

He claimed in the fall that Depardieu had diabetes and had had a quadruple heart bypass, which the stress of the upcoming trial had made them even more anxious.

“Remarks that are offensive”

Depardieu’s court appearances are only allowed for six hours per day, and he will take breaks as needed, according to Assous.

Depardieu, according to him, “denies all of the allegations in their entirety.”

The set dresser, one of Depardieu’s two accusers, reported to the filming company in February last year that she had experienced sexual assault, harassment, and sexist insults.

Depardieu began loudly requesting a cooling fan during the shoot because he “couldn’t even get it up” in the heat, she told French investigative website Mediapart.

She claimed that Depardieu “brutally grabbed” her an hour later and that he boasted about being able to “give women an orgasm without touching them.”

The actor pinned her by “closing his legs” around her, before groping her, going up to her breasts, and then closing his legs.

Depardieu, according to her, made “obscene remarks,” including “come and touch my big parasol.” I’ll put it in your pussy.

She described the actor’s bodyguards dragging him away as he yelled, “We’ll see each other again, my dear.”

Attorney Carine Durrieu-Diebolt told AFP, “My client hopes that the trial will continue this time.”

“Never, but never” 

An assistant director’s second plaintiff also alleges sexual violence.

The trial should be held in accordance with my client’s wishes. However, I’m concerned about how the civil parties at the hearing will be handled by Mr. Depardieu’s defense, according to lawyer Claude Vincent.

Around 20 women have accused Depardieu of improper behavior overall, but several cases have been dropped due to the statute of limitations.

In 2018, French actor Charlotte Arnould became the first woman to report Depardieu to the police.

The actor has consistently denied allegations over the years that he raped and sexually assault him. The Paris prosecutor’s office requested a trial for these allegations last August.

In an open letter to the conservative daily Le Figaro, Depardieu wrote, “Never, but never, have I abused a woman.”

He has previously caused controversy by urinating in the aisle of an airplane and brawling while drinking.

The actor repeatedly makes explicit sexual remarks in front of a female interpreter and appears to sexualize a young girl riding a horse in a documentary that was broadcast on French television in 2023 called “The Fall of the Ogre.”

Source: Channels TV