PARIS (AFP) – French actor Gerard Despardieu, faced a string of assault and rape allegations, was brought to trial in Paris on Monday when he was accused of sexually abusing two women during a 2021 filming.
Depardieu, 76, who has made more than 200 films and television series, has been accused of inappropriate behavior by around 20 women, but this is the first case he has been brought to trial.
He is the best person to face accusations of occasionally lagging reactions to the sometimes late #MeToo movement of French films.
The trial, which begins at 1:30pm (12:30 GMT) before Paris Criminal Court, is linked to accusations of sexual assault during filming of 2021's “Les Volets Vers” (The Green Shotters).
Anouk Grinberg, a well-known actor who appeared in the film, supported the two plaintiffs. He is a set dresser, 54 and 34 years old assistant director. Both women advocate sexual violence.
Grinberg said Depardou was always making “shady remarks” during filming, and told AFP that the producer who hired him knows he would “hire an abuser.”
Initially, the trial, scheduled for October 2024, was postponed due to the health of the actor.
This time, “He's there,” Depardou's lawyer Jeremy Asas told AFP.
Speaking to the RMC broadcaster on Monday morning, Assous predicted that the court would soon see the case “in favor of Gerard Depardieu.”
He said in the fall that Depardieu suffered four times the heart bypass and suffered from diabetes, which was exacerbated by the stress of future trials.
“Indecent remarks”
According to Assous, Depardieu's court appearances will be limited to six hours a day, and he will take a break whenever he “needs.”
He said Depardieu “denies all of their entire accusations.”
One of Depardieu's two accusers, set dressers, reported that she was suffering from sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexist insults during filming last February.
She told French research website Mediapart that Depardieu began calling out cooling fans loudly while filming.
She boasted that he “can give a woman an orgasm without touching it,” and an hour later Depardieu claimed that she “grabed her.”
The actor groped her hips and stomach, then continued up to her chest and secured her by “closing her legs” around her, she added.
She said Depardieu “Come and touch my big umbrella. I'll stick it on your pussy.”
She explained that the actor's bodyguard was dragging him out.
“My client hopes that the trial will move on this time,” lawyer Carine Durrieu-Diebolt told AFP.
“Never, but never.”
The second plaintiff, the assistant director, also claims sexual violence.
“What my client wants is that there will be a trial, but I'm also worried about how Depardou's defense will treat the Civic Party at the hearing,” said lawyer Claude Vincent.
Overall, around 20 women have accused Depardieu of inappropriate behaviour, but the restrictions law has dropped some cases.
French actor Charlotte Arnoll was the first woman to file criminal charges against Despardieu in 2018.
Last August, the Paris prosecutor's office called for a trial for rape and sexual assault. It's accusation the actor has consistently denied over the years.
“Never, but never, I have abused a woman,” Despardou wrote in an open letter to the conservative daily Le Figaro.
He was unfamiliar with the scandal and made headlines for brawls, drunk driving and urination in the aisle of planes.
The 2023 documentary on French television, entitled “The Fall of the Ogre,” appears to be sexualizing the little girl riding a horse, as the actor repeatedly makes explicit sexual comments in front of a female interpreter on a 2018 trip to North Korea.
