PARIS (AP) — A Paris court docket on Tuesday discovered actor Gérard Depardieu responsible of getting sexually assaulted two girls on a 2021 movie set, giving him an 18-month suspended jail sentence.
The actor, 76, has been convicted of getting groped a 54-year-old set dresser and a 34-year-old assistant in the course of the filming of “Les Volets Verts” (“The Green Shutters”).
The case was extensively seen as a key post-#MeToo take a look at of how French society and its movie trade tackle allegations of sexual misconduct involving outstanding figures.
Depardieu, who has denied the accusations, did not attend Tuesday’s listening to.
Depardieu’s lengthy and storied profession — he advised the court docket that he’s made greater than 250 movies — has turned him right into a French film large. He was Oscar-nominated in 1991 for his efficiency because the swordsman and poet Cyrano de Bergerac.
Through the four-day trial in March, Depardieu rejected the accusations, saying he’s “not like that.” He acknowledged that he had used vulgar and sexualized language on the movie set and that he grabbed the set dresser’s hips throughout an argument, however denied that his habits was sexual.
The 2 accusers testified in court docket
The set dresser described the alleged assault, saying the actor pincered her between his legs as she squeezed previous him in a slender hall.
She mentioned he grabbed her hips then began “palpating” her behind and “in front, around.” She ran her arms close to her buttocks, hips and pubic space to point out what she allegedly skilled. She mentioned he then grabbed her chest.
The lady additionally testified that Depardieu used an obscene expression to ask her to the touch his penis and steered he needed to rape her. She advised the court docket that the actor’s calm and cooperative perspective in the course of the trial bore no resemblance to his habits at work.
The opposite plaintiff, an assistant, mentioned that Depardieu groped her buttocks and her breasts throughout three separate incidents on the movie set.
The Related Press doesn’t determine by title individuals who say they had been sexually assaulted except they consent to be named. Neither girls has achieved so on this case.
Prosecutor requested suspended jail sentence
Paris’ public prosecutor had requested that Depardieu be discovered responsible and given an 18-month suspended jail sentence and a fantastic of 20,000 euros ($22,200). The prosecutor denounced the actor’s “complete denial and failure to query himself.
Some figures within the French cinema world have expressed their assist for Depardieu. Actors Vincent Perez and Fanny Ardant had been amongst those that took seats on his facet of the courtroom.
Depardieu has been accused publicly or in formal complaints of misconduct by greater than 20 girls, however to date solely the sexual assault case has proceeded to court docket. Another circumstances had been dropped due to a scarcity of proof or the statute of limitations.
The actor could must face different authorized proceedings quickly.
In 2018, actor Charlotte Arnould accused him of raping her at his dwelling. That case continues to be energetic, and in August 2024 prosecutors requested that it go to trial.
A titan of French cinema
For greater than a half-century, Depardieu stood as a towering determine in French cinema, a titan recognized for his commanding bodily presence, intuition, sensibility and noteworthy versatility.
A bon vivant who overcame a speech obstacle and a turbulent youth, Depardieu rose to prominence within the Nineteen Seventies and have become one among France’s most prolific and acclaimed actors, portraying an enormous array of characters, from unstable outsiders to deeply introspective figures.
