France’s #MeToo movement is back in the spotlight today (March 24) as actor Gerard Depardieu is expected at a Paris criminal court to face charges of sexual assault on a film set.
The now 76-year-old French actor is being tried for the sexual assault of two women – an assistant director and a set designer – during the 2021 film shoot for Jean Becker’s The Green Shutters (Les Volets Verts) released in 2022 that co-stars Anouk Grinberg and Fanny Ardant.
If he is found guilty, he could face five years in prison and a €75,000 fine. He is also facing other charges in separate cases.
Depardieu has continuously denied any wrongdoing. “Never, but never, have I abused a woman,” Depardieu wrote in an open letter in 2023 defending himself in newspaper Le Figaro.
The trial was postponed from its original date on October 28 after the actor’s lawyer cited health concerns preventing him from being physically present. On March 4, French press reported that Depardieu was deemed well enough to attend provided the two-day trial does not last longer than six hours per day with breaks scheduled.
In the past few weeks leading up to the trial alone, the actor was accused by three more women of sexual harassment in Mediapart and is under investigation for suspicion of falsely declaring his tax residency to be in Belgium since 2013 that has involved raids of his properties in both France and Belgium according to local reports.
Last August, a Paris prosecutor requested he stand trial over allegations of rape made by actress Charlotte Arnould, a case that is still moving its way through French courts.
Major moment
Despite having been accused of various degrees of sexual harassment by several women, Monday’s court date marks the first official trial for the actor. He is also the most high-profile, internationally-known figure to face trial in France’s #MeToo movement having starred in some 200 films and series including The Last Metro, Cyrano de Bergerac and Green Card.
In February, a French court found French filmmaker Christophe Ruggia guilty of sexually assaulting actress Adèle Haenel when she was a minor and sentenced him to four years in prison. That trial was the first to go to court of the major #MeToo cases in the French film industry.
The legal proceedings come as the French film industry continues to reckon with its past and make major strides to make changes to prevent such incidents on film sets.
In October, France’s National Assembly voted unanimously to launch a commission to look into sexual assault within the French film industry. Since then, a group of elected representatives chaired by economist and politician Sandrine Rousseau has held a series of hearings and has summoned major industry figures including producers Hugo Selignac, Dimitri Rassam, François Kraus and Olivier Delbosc, Pathe Films president Ardavan Safae, and top-tier talent like Jean Dujardin, Gilles Lellouche, Juliette Binoche, Noémie Merlant, Anna Mouglalis and Virginie Efira.
The commission was spearheaded by Judith Godrèche and Rousseau is expected to reveal her complete report this spring.
Last week, producer and former agent Dominique Besnehard, known for creating the hit series Call My Agent!, was summoned by the parliamentary committee where he defended Depardieu and questioned the motivations of actresses in interactions with both Depardieu and Harvey Weinstein during a tense exchange with Rousseau. “I belong to an old world,” the now 71-year-old repeated throughout the interrogation.
Citing the “presumption of innocence,” he condemned Arnould, who accused Depardieu of raping her, telling the commission: “Generally, acting lessons are done in acting classes, you don’t go to an actor’s home.”
Besnehard notably was one of the signatories of a December 2023 petition in Le Figaro in support of Depardieu.
Depardieu has been embroiled in several scandals over the years spanning drunk driving, urinating in the aisle of an aeroplane and for making explicit remarks appearing to sexualise a young girl in a North Korea-set documentary that aired on French television in 2023 titled The Fall Of The Ogre.
No comments yet