French actor-writer-director Nicolas Bedos has been sentenced to one year in prison with six months suspended in addition to compulsory addiction and psychological treatment for sexually assaulting two women last year. He was acquitted on another charge of sexual harassment stemming from 2018.
Bedos is best known for his Cannes-premiering features as a director including Mascarade, OSS 117: From Africa With Love in 2021 and La Belle Epoque. His last project was Prime Video series Alphonse starring Jean Dujardin.
Bedo’s lawyer Julia Monowski said she plans to appeal “immediately” and called the sentence “totally unprecedented, unjust and totally unacceptable.”
The charges date back to June 2023 when Bedos was taken into custody after a woman filed a complaint claiming he drunkenly touched her inappropriately at a Parisian nightclub earlier in the month.
Two more accusations were later filed, one by a woman who said Bedos forcefully kissed her neck in May 2023 and another saying he touched her and asked her to kiss him in 2018.
Bedos was not present for the sentencing, but did plead his case at a court hearing on September 26 when he denied any wrongdoing for the June 2023 incident, saying “I don’t remember anything – it was a black-out” and arguing that “there was no sexual intention”.
Monowski claimed Bedos has been “treating an alcohol problem for nearly two years”.
The prosecutor Tewfik Bouzenoune said the decision was important for showing that “alcohol is never and can never be used as a shield to exonerate oneself” and one that “advances the fight against sexist and sexual violence.”
A different judge will decide how much of Bedos’ prison sentence must be spent in jail or if he can negotiate other measures like house arrest.
Separately, the trial of Gerard Depardieu for alleged sexual assaults against two women during a 2021 film shoot is set to begin on October 28. He has denied the charges.
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