(Paris) French actor Gérard Depardieu, targeted by numerous accusations of sexual violence, will be absent on Monday at his first trial at the Paris court, where he must be tried for sexual assault on two women during filming in 2021.
Updated at 6:38 a.m.
Céline BRUNEAU
Agence France-Presse
After initially saying that the 75-year-old actor “intended” to attend the hearing, his lawyer Jérémie Assous announced Monday on franceinfo radio that he was going to request the dismissal, due to “the state of health » from his client.
“Gérard Depardieu is extremely affected and unfortunately his doctors forbid him from attending the hearing, which is why he will request a postponement to a later date so that he can be present,” declared Mr.e Assous, adding that he wanted to “express himself” on the facts, which he disputes.
The hearing is scheduled to begin early in the afternoon.
Gérard Depardieu was given a summons to court at the end of April, following police custody, “for sexual assaults likely to have been committed in September 2021 to the detriment of two victims, on the set of movie The green shutters » by Jean Becker, the prosecution indicated.
One of the two women, a film decorator, filed a complaint in February 2024 against the actor for sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexist outrages during the filming of this film, leading to the opening of an investigation.
“I expect justice to be the same for everyone and that Mr. Depardieu does not benefit from preferential treatment because he is an artist,” his lawyer, M.e Carine Durrieu-Diebolt.
Gérard Depardieu is “the target of false accusations”, asserted Jérémie Assous, for whom “the aim pursued has just been revealed through the requests for compensation: to enrich himself by 30,000 euros”.
According to the 55-year-old complainant, the alleged acts took place in September 2021, in a 16th century mansion.e Parisian district.
“Caught brutally”
In his story to the investigative site Mediapart, the latter explained that Gérard Depardieu would have suddenly shouted during a conversation that he wanted a “fan”, because he could “not even get hard” in this heat, then he would have assured being able to “make women come without touching them”.
An hour later, he allegedly “grabbed her roughly” as she left the set.
Mr. Depardieu would then have “blocked her by closing his legs on (her) like a crab”, then would have “kneaded her waist, her stomach, going up to (her) breasts”, she assured .
He also allegedly made “obscene remarks” to her such as “Come touch my big parasol, I’m going to shove it in your pussy”.
“My client is waiting for justice to establish that Gérard Depardieu is a serial sexual assaulter,” added Me Carine Durrieu-Diebolt.
The actor will also be judged for sexual violence denounced in a complaint by another woman, an assistant director on the same film.
During this filming, “from morning to evening, we had the right to our salaceries”, for her part, testified the actress Anouk Grinberg, in an interview with AFP. “When film producers hire Depardieu on a film, they know that they are hiring an aggressor,” she accused.
Threatened with another trial
A great figure in French cinema known throughout the world, with more than 200 films, Gérard Depardieu has been accused over the last six years of sexual violence by several women.
Complaints for sexual assault against the actor were dismissed for prescription.
But Gérard Depardieu is under the threat of another trial: in August, the Paris prosecutor’s office requested his referral to the criminal court so that he could be tried for rape and sexual assault on the actress Charlotte Arnould.
She was the first to file a complaint against the famous actor in 2018.
“Never, ever have I abused a woman,” Gérard Depardieu defended himself in an open letter published in the newspaper Le Figaro in October 2023.
In December 2023, French President Emmanuel Macron shocked feminist associations by hailing a “huge actor” who “makes France proud”, denouncing “a manhunt” after the broadcast of a television report, during which the actor made multiple misogynistic and insulting remarks towards women.
Launched in 2017 to denounce the behavior of American producer Harvey Weinstein, the #metoo movement has swept through French cinema in recent years.
Several big names have been accused of sexual violence, such as directors Jacques Doillon and Benoît Jacquot.
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