Reuters
—
A court in Paris on Tuesday found French actor Gérard Depardieu guilty of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021 and handed him an 18-month suspended prison sentence, in a fall from grace for a towering figure of French cinema.
In one of the highest-profile #MeToo cases to come before judges in France, Depardieu repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyer said he would appeal the court’s decision.
Depardieu, 76, was a towering figure in French cinema, starring in more than 200 films over five decades, including “Green Card,” “The Last Metro” and “Cyrano de Bergerac.”
His trial marked a moment of reckoning for the #MeToo protest movement over sexual violence, which has failed to gain the same traction in France as in the United States, although there are signs that social attitudes are changing.
One of the two plaintiffs, Amelie K, a set decorator now aged 54, told the court the actor had groped her all over her body as he trapped her between his legs and made explicit sexual comments on set in 2021.
“I was terrified, he was laughing,” she recounted.
Depardieu, who denied sexual assault, had argued before the court that he did not consider placing a hand on a person’s buttocks sexual assault and that some women were too easily shocked.
Handing down his sentence, the presiding judge, Thierry Donard, said of Depardieu: “He does not seem to have grasped either the concept of consent or the deleterious and traumatic consequences of his behaviour towards the women he assaulted.”
He ordered Depardieu, who was not in court for the verdict, to be put on a list of sex offenders.
Depardieu has figured prominently in the debate over the #MeToo movement in France, as he faced a growing number of sexual assault allegations that put a spotlight on how women are treated in the movie industry.
Prosecutors say he should face trial in a separate rape investigation, following allegations brought by actress Charlotte Arnould, 29, who said she could not bear remaining silent any longer.
More than a dozen women have accused Depardieu of sexual violence, though not all have filed complaints.
Depardieu has consistently denied wrongdoing. “Never, absolutely never, have I abused a woman,” he wrote in an open letter in the daily Le Figaro newspaper in October 2023.
The Depardieu trial laid bare a generational divide in France over sexism.
Earlier during the investigation, a group of 50 French stars, including Carla Bruni, wife of former President Nicolas Sarkozy, denounced what they called the “lynching” of Depardieu.
Brigitte Bardot, 90, told BFM TV this week that “those who have talent and grope a girl get thrown into the gutter.”
Women’s rights campaigners say they have seen a shift in attitudes in France – notably following the case of Gisele Pelicot whose ex-husband was convicted last year of inviting dozens of men to rape her after drugging her unconscious.
“It’s truly a victory and a step forward. We’re making progress,” Amelie K. told reporters after the verdict.
