Insults, humiliations and sexual advances
The victims are described as occupying “precarious” positions in the world of cinema in the face of the “omnipotence” of the 76-year-old actor. They are production assistants, technicians, makeup artists, dressers and sometimes interns. Most of them were under 30 years old at the time of the events and one of them had only just reached the age of majority.
Evoking a “permanent climate of insecurity” on the set and in the dressing rooms, some complainants recount “humiliation” and “sexist insults”, while others speak of “non-consensual physical contact” and “proposals of a nature sexual” from the person who signed the column supporting Gérard Depardieu.
The ordeal of a barely adult intern
A young trainee, aged 19 at the time of the events, describes a honeyed man who “presses his kisses to the corner of his mouth”. When he says to her: “We can make love, you can come to my house”, she refuses, declaring in particular that she is “the age of her children”. Faced with this refusal, the actor then changed his behavior, nicknamed her “female dog” or “slut”.
The intern would have informed the production and the management of her school before leaving the set without anything happening. “The production did not protect me,” testifies the young woman, who allegedly filed a complaint against the production for non-protection.
The actor denies the accusations
Another complainant says that when she pushed the actor away for having “put his hand between her thighs while saying hello”, he replied: “It’s okay, you’re not going to give me a MeToo!”
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According to Politis, ten other women spoke out during the investigation, but ultimately did not wish to be quoted.
Contacted by the French weekly, Gérard Darmon denies having been the author of inappropriate comments or gestures.
