French actor Gerard Depardieu goes on trial in Paris today on sexual assault charges. And this is just the beginning.
Stefan Brändle, Paris/ch media
Depardieu's new lawyer Jeremy Assous has promised to attend court hearings ahead of the French film legend's first trial on Monday. He is accused of sexually assaulting two women.
Gerard Depardieu performed in 2015.Image: trapezoid
One of the accusers, a decorator named Amélie, said in an interview that the attack occurred during the filming of the film “Les volets verts” in 2021. The 55-year-old French woman said the actor kept making provocative comments to her. He asked for a fan because he often had erections due to the hot weather. Then, the 130-pound man roughly grabbed her and “kneaded” her from her buttocks to her breasts. The bodyguards then took him away; Depardieu smiled and shouted: “We will see you again!”
The set designer's lawyer, Carine Durrieu-Diebolt, described Depardieu as a “serial aggressor” and asked the 75-year-old Frenchman not to be blamed for his stardom and receive any preferential treatment. Other actresses who filmed with Depardieu also insisted on this. Anouk Greenberg said Depardieu created a sexually charged atmosphere “from morning to night” with obscene content, which was joined by the director and other spokespeople. “When the producers hired Depardieu to shoot the movie, they knew they were hiring an aggressor. His behavior got progressively worse,” Greenberg explained.
A year ago, Depardieu apologized for any offensive behavior in an open letter. Depardieu only hired his lawyer Assous in June to replace his former legal representative, and Assous called the accusations against his client “lies.” He wanted to provide “witnesses and counter-evidence” and accused the plaintiff of seeking only civil damages, which could be up to €36,000.
Jérémie Assous, Depardieu’s new lawyer.Image: trapezoid
From Columbus to the Obelisk
The second plaintiff, an assistant director, has not commented publicly. Another woman, drama student Charlotte Arnould, reported Depardieu in 2018 for two counts of rape. The prosecutor's office therefore requested a new trial for the film icon, who has appeared in more than 200 films, including “The Last Metro”, “Jean de Florette”, “1492 – Christopher Columbus” and “Asterix and Obelix”.
Gerard Depardieu at the Obelisk.Image source: AP PATHE FILMS
A total of twenty women have accused the French actor of sexual abuse. Some of the charges have expired. But they sparked a movement in French cinema similar to Hollywood's #MeToo movement. Actress Karin Viard recently explained that Paris is only now starting to realize that aggressive behavior by male protagonists in film studios and during outdoor shoots is not “completely normal” but “completely abusive” . Decorator Emily told news portal Mediapart that as a woman she was at the mercy of Depardieu: “Alone, I had to pretend that I was strong, these attacks left me cold; but I could hardly do it at night Fall asleep. “
After the ad was released, public opinion stopped paying attention to Depardieu. This was prompted by excruciating scenes in a documentary about Depardieu's 2018 trip to North Korea. He lewdly asked the girl on horseback to gallop to orgasm. In May, he chased an Italian paparazzi into a hospital in Rome in front of his companion, Polish filmmaker Magda Vavrusowa, because he wanted to take his picture.
French audiences no longer forgive him for being so low-profile because Depardieu had previously played sensitive roles such as Cyrano von Bergerac and sang highly sensitive songs by singer Barbara. Actresses close to him, including Sandrine Bonnaire, Catherine Deneuve and Carole Bouguet, stopped defending him. The Parisian press no longer called him a “monstre sacré” (literally: divine greatness) but simply a “monster”. Depardieu no longer has any film roles. (bzbasel.ch)
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