French actor Gerard Depardiu on Monday appeared earlier than a Paris Courtroom, the place he’s confronted with two accusations of sexual assault on two girls engaged on the set of a film he’s concerned in.
The lawsuit would be the first time when Depardieu has been pressured to answer court docket of accusations in a match, sexual assault and harassment and rape which have collected in opposition to him for years and which he denied.
The accusations on this course of got here after two girls on the set “Green blinds”, “ A movie by French director Jean Becker, who was launched in 2022, filed complaints from police that he had been massed the genitals, ass and chest. If discovered responsible, D -Depardieu faces as much as 5 years in jail and a advantageous of 75,000 euros, or about $ 81,000.
Depardieu denied all the fees of the case to be delivered to court docket on Monday. His lawyer, Jeremy, referred to as them “fully false and unrealistic.”
The method was scheduled for final October however was delayed Since D -Depardieu didn’t seem for well being causes. Mr. Assous offered medical evaluations that present that Mr Depardieu suffered from long-term diabetes and coronary heart issues after struggling a quadruple bypass and that the anxiousness of the take a look at had worsened his circumstances.
For a lot of, the case is a breakthrough for the #MeToo motion in France, which has been stopped for years, particularly within the movie business.
Thought of to be probably the most well-known and highly effective actor that France has produced for generations, Depardieu, who has already been 76 years outdated, has dominated the French display for many years, showing in additional than 230 movies, together with.Cyrano de Bergerac“And”The man in the iron maskS “
“He’s certainly an artist, together with the administrators, given his aura,” says Genevier Celier, writer of the Autura’s Cult, a guide on sexual violence in a phase of the movie business. “So the truth that Depardieu is accused and might be examined implies that any further, the artist in France is not above the legislation.”
Whereas the motion #Metoo Downloaded dozens of powerful men In Hollywood virtually as quickly because it started in 2017, in France, its look was thought-about suspiciously by some like Puritan American imports, which was in a necessary a part of France’s mental and cultural id.
The motion has introduced some small structural adjustments to the cinema business, together with obligatory coaching for producers to forestall sexual abuse of kits if movies will obtain vital state subsidies. However in any other case it’s confronted with sturdy resistance from a sector that’s thought-about sacred in France and is basically managed by males.
“To date, the French cinema establishments have been protecting all these surpluses,” mentioned Gia Selier. “All these establishments are managed by males – who’re stationary and who’ve closed their eyes to those abuses so long as attainable.”
In current months, nonetheless, quite a few circumstances have gone to court docket and have led to sentences. Final fall, movie director and actor Nicolas Bedos was convicted of sexual assault over two girls in 2023 and Prisonwhich was diminished to 6 months of home arrest with digital surveillance.
Final month, French court condemned Director Christoph Rugya From sexual assault on actress Adele Hanel when she was a minor, giving him a four-year sentence or two years below home arrest and the remainder have been stopped. Rugya appealed the choice.
It’s too early to find out whether or not the choices sign a change for #MeToo in French cinema, mentioned Marie Lemarhouse, an actress who’s a member of the Affiliation of Actors and Actresses, who was created in 2021 to foyer for adjustments within the business.
“However symbolically, that is very highly effective as a result of these individuals who filed complaints have been acknowledged as victims,” ​​mentioned G -Ja Lemarchand.
The primary accusations in opposition to the Depardieu within the #Metoo period arose in 2018, when a younger formidable actress Charlotte Arnold advised police that the actor rapes her twice when she is 22 years outdated.
An investigation into these allegations was dropped, after which he later reunited in 2020 and continued, in line with the Paris Prosecutor’s Workplace.
After G -I’m giving approach to the general public, others adopted.
At the least three investigations have been launched on allegations of sexual assault and rape in opposition to d -D Depardieu, filed by French actresses and a Spanish journalist. Two had been dropped as a result of that they had gone from the limitation.
Depardieu has referred to as all of the accusations of incorrect and media reflection “lynches”. In 2023, He wrote in the conservative every day le Figaro that he will be “provocative, crowded, typically impolite”, however that he’s by no means abused with a girl.
Many distinguished folks rushed to the safety of Mr. Depardius. Probably the most notable of them is President Emmanuel Macron of France, who condemned what he referred to as Manhant In opposition to the actor, whom he mentioned, “Makes France Proud.”
“There may be all the time this safety for the glory of males,” mentioned Da Lemarchand, noting that D -Depardieu was fueled by a system that, at the perfect case, ignored sexual violence and violence and on the most case he had raised it.
However there was a hazard of pointing to Depardieu as a “monster,” she mentioned. “He can’t be separated from the remainder of the career, the setting through which we work,” she mentioned, nor “from the remainder of what appreciates our society.”
The planning of the method will proceed for 2 days, however it may be prolonged because the medical skilled of the court docket mentioned that the well being of D -Depardieu has allowed him to attend not more than six hours at a time, his lawyer mentioned.
Ségolène the Strada contributed to reporting from Paris
