French actor Gérard Depardieu has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two women in one of the most high-profile #MeToo cases in Europe.
The 76-year-old star has appeared in more than 200 movies, including Cyrano de Bergerac and Jean de Florette, and has won multiple awards over more than five decades in cinema.
On Tuesday, May 13, the court in Paris gave the actor an 18-month suspended prison sentence for groping two different women while shooting the 2021 movie Les Volets Verts. Both women were part of the behind-the-scenes film crew and said they had been scared to speak out due to feeling intimidated by the star.
“I was petrified,” said one of them, a set designer named Amelie K, who told the court that the actor used crude language and trapped her between his legs as she passed him in a corridor, before touching her body. “He terrified me, he looked like a madman,” she added. “He touched everything, including my breasts. I was terrified, he was laughing.”
Depardieu fiercely denied the allegations and initially received support from high-profile figures in the film industry, along with French president Emmanuel Macron, who previously described the star as “the pride of France.” However, the court found his account of the incidents to be inconsistent.
Carine Diebolt, lawyer for Amelie K, claimed that Depardieu deliberately targeted women who were not high-profile. “He is strong with the weak and weak with the strong,” she said.
During cross-examination, Depardieu admitted that he first denied touching the victim at all before saying he grasped her hips to avoid a fall, and then claimed he was trying to get her attention. He also said he did not know what sexual assault was.
Diebolt later told Sky News that Depardieu was finally being held accountable for behavior that had been tolerated due to his status and fame. “These women were put in danger,” she said. “This is about a line of offenses that he committed over many years that were tolerated by the world of cinema because it was Gérard Depardieu. Because the financial benefits he brings to the industry are so substantial. He did make some excellent films, but all men are equal before the law. Nobody warned Amelie about Depardieu’s behaviour, so his words and actions came as a terrible surprise for her. She still has traumatic flashbacks.”
The lawyer added that around 20 other women have come forward with allegations about the actor. He will stand trial again later this year on charges of raping actress Charlotte Arnould. She has accused Depardieu, a friend of her parents, of raping her at his Paris home.
