Gerard Depardieu has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two women on a 2021 film set. The French actor, 76, who had roles in over 200 movies and wasn’t present as the verdict was being read out, was convicted by the Paris Correctional Court of groping two women while filming Les Volets Verts (The Green Shutters) in 2021.
His victims had behind-the-scenes roles on the film set. Both victims, a 34-year-old assistant producer referred to as Sarah and Amélie, 54, a set designer, were scared to speak out about the assault at the time and said they were intimidated by the actor.
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“I was petrified”, one of the women, a set designer called Amelie, said. Amelie told the court the actor trapped her between his legs when she was trying to get past him in a corridor.
He then ran his hands over her body. Amelie said: “He terrified me – he looked like a madman.”
The two women said the star first used vulgar and explicit language towards them to abuse them before sexually assaulting them by grabbing them and running his hands over their bodies. The court heard he made crude sexual advances towards the victims.
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Barrister Carine Durrieu Diebolt, who was representing the set designer, said Amelie was typical of victims who were ‘afraid to speak out’. Ms Durrieu Diebolt said: “These women are all technicians, doing minor jobs in the film industry.
“There’s a risk of reprisals. They are afraid of speaking, of being blacklisted, of being viewed as troublemakers in the workplace.”
Depardieu claimed he didn’t even know what sexual assault was. Depardieu had denied the allegations made against him and previously received support from the likes of French president Emmanuel Macron.
He was previously described as a ‘sex attacker’ who ‘preys on the weak’ by a female lawyer at his trial when he denied the charges against him.
It comes after French veteran film star Fanny Ardant spoke out in his defence. Barrister Durrieu Diebolt said: “He didn’t grope Fanny Ardant. He wouldn’t have done that to Fanny Ardant. Mr Depardieu is strong with the weak and weak with the strong.”
Depardieu was today believed to be filming with Ardant in Portugal.
Durrieu Diebolt called the case a ‘French Me Too, and said other women would have pressed charges against the controversial actor if it hadn’t been for the French statute of limitations, which prevents cases dating back more than a decade from being prosecuted.
She said: “If not for that, there would have been 20 women instead of two in court. Perhaps you consider that he’s a great actor and you like his films, and you don’t see him as a sexual attacker, but he is also a man of wealth.”
He has previously been accused publicly or via formal complaints of misconduct by over 20 women, but no other case has gone to court. Some were dropped due to lack of evidence.
As part of a separate case, the actor has been, since December, 16, 2020, indicted over allegations of rape and sexual assault filed in 2018. Depardieu was also accused by 13 women of sexually inappropriate behaviour in a report published by French investigative news website Médiapart in April 2023.
He will also be standing trial again later this year after being charged with raping actress Charlotte Arnould. She accused him, who is a friend of her parents, of raping her at his mansion in Paris.
* If you’ve been the victim of sexual assault, you can access help and resources via www.rapecrisis.org.uk or calling the national telephone helpline on 0808 802 9999
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