Considered one of France’s most profitable actors has been convicted of sexually assaulting two ladies on the set of one among his movies.
Gerard Depardieu, 76, has starred in additional than 200 movies over 5 many years, successful two greatest lead actor awards on the Cesars, in addition to being nominated for an Oscar and 15 different Cesars.
On Tuesday, judges on the Tribunal de Paris discovered him responsible of two counts of sexual assault, each of which he denied and says he’ll enchantment.
He was given an 18-month suspended sentence and ordered to pay a €20,000 (£16,800) wonderful.
Whereas the #MeToo motion finally led to the downfall of Hollywood movie director Harvey Weinstein within the US, France’s #balancestonporc equal has struggled to realize momentum.
However Depardieu’s court docket case, coming quickly after that of Gisele Pelicot, who waived her anonymity to disclose her husband had orchestrated her drugging and rape by greater than 50 males, is proof for a lot of that France is lastly getting its personal #MeToo second.
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Gerard Depardieu arrives at court docket. Pic: Reuters
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Depardieu arrives for sexual assault trial
What was he accused of?
Depardieu was discovered responsible of sexually assaulting two feminine crew members on the set of the movie Les Volets Verts (Inexperienced Shutters) in 2021.
The ladies, one a 54-year-old set dresser referred to as Amelie and the opposite a 34-year-old assistant, each claimed the actor pressured himself on them on a number of events, touching them over their garments, the court docket was informed.
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Amelie, 54, reacts to court docket’s verdict in her case. Pic: Reuters
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Pic: Reuters
The primary lady stated in a single incident, as she handed him in a hall, he grabbed her, pinned her down between his legs and rubbed himself towards her waist, hips, and chest, making accompanying gestures and lewd feedback.
The opposite lady claimed he touched her buttocks in public on multiple event, in addition to touching her chest.
Depardieu denied the allegations and appeared in particular person on the Tribunal de Paris, telling the court docket: “I’ve always been told I have a Russian nature, I don’t know if it’s because of the drinking or the vulgarity.”
However he added: “I’m not touching the butts of women.”
One of many victims claimed he behaved “like a madman” who took “pleasure in frightening me”.
Depardieu responded: “I understand perfectly if she’s a bit upset. I am capable of trash talk… I don’t have to talk like that, get angry like that, voila.”
He additionally claimed that he had been in a “bad mood” as a result of the set was sizzling, which was troublesome for him, being obese.
The trial was as a consequence of begin in October however was postponed till March after Depardieu’s authorized group requested for a six-month delay as a consequence of his poor well being. Struggling issues from diabetes and hypertension, they stated he was unable to take a seat for lengthy intervals.
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In Cannes in 1997. Pic: Reuters
Individually, he additionally stays below investigation for the alleged rape and sexual assault of a 22-year-old actress. The lady claims Depardieu sexually assaulted her twice at his dwelling.
She initially reported the alleged incidents in 2018 however the fees have been dropped in 2019 following a nine-month investigation.
Nevertheless, the case was reopened in October 2020 when the lady refiled the criticism.
In March 2022, Depardieu’s bid to get the case thrown out was rejected by Paris’s court docket of enchantment, with authorities saying he would stay below investigation till the matter is both despatched to trial or dismissed. He denies the allegations.
In April 2023, investigative French media outlet Mediapart reported claims of 13 ladies who stated Depardieu sexually assaulted or harassed them between 2004 and 2022.
A gaggle of fifty French stars, together with singer and spouse of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Carla Bruni, wrote their very own open letter defending him in Le Monde, condemning what they described as his “lynching” and describing him as “probably the greatest” French actor.
Per week later, President Emmanuel Macron condemned the “manhunt” for Depardieu, calling him an “immense actor” who “makes France proud”.
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A ladies’s rights activist throughout a protest in January 2024 in Paris. Pic: AP
Who’s Gerard Depardieu?
Depardieu was born in Chateauroux, central France in 1948. He left dwelling on the age of 16 for Paris, the place he acquired his first performing job with a travelling theatre firm.
After just a few minor movie roles, his break got here in 1973 with a lead half in Bertrand Blier’s movie Les Valseuses (Going Locations) – alongside his former theatre mates Patrick Dewaere and Miou Miou.
From there, his reputation boomed, and he grew to become one of the crucial prolific French actors of the Eighties and Nineteen Nineties.
He gained awards for his roles in The Final Metro and Cyrano de Bergerac, which additionally acquired an Oscar nomination. He was made president of the Cannes Movie Competition jury in 1992.
His success additionally noticed him change into a Chevalier of France’s Legion d’Honneur and its Ordre nationwide du Merite – two of the nation’s most prestigious honours.
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Former French President Jacques Chevalier awards Depardieu the Chevallier de la Legion d’Honneur on the Elysee Palace in 1996. Pic: Reuters
Throughout roughly 250 movies, he has labored with greater than 150 administrators, together with Jean-Luc Godard and Ridley Scott.
He grew to become shut mates with Robert De Niro after they starred collectively in Bernardo Bertolucci’s movie 1900 in 1976.
Depardieu married fellow actor Elisabeth Depardieu in 1971. She starred alongside him in Jean de Florette and Manon Of The Spring in 1986. That they had two youngsters, who each grew to become actors. Their son Guillaume died from pneumonia aged 37 in 2008. The couple divorced in 1996.
He introduced his retirement from performing in 2005, claiming he had made “enough” movies and wished to pursue different issues.
In 2012, he moved to Belgium to keep away from paying taxes in France. He wrote an open letter to the then-prime minister, saying he was surrendering his French passport as a result of he wished “nothing to do” together with his dwelling nation and the federal government was attempting to “punish success”.
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With Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi in 2013. Pic: AP
Vladimir Putin personally signed an govt order to present him Russian citizenship in 2013. Two years later, his movies have been banned in Ukraine over feedback he made questioning the nation’s sovereignty as an impartial state. He has since condemned Russia’s struggle there.
He additionally claims to have been given citizenship by the United Arab Emirates.
In 2023, he was stripped of his Nationwide Order of Quebec after a documentary revealed him making lewd feedback and sexual gestures on a visit to North Korea in 2018, which the area’s premier described as “shocking”.
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On the Netflix premiere of the sequence Marseille within the metropolis in 2016. Pic: Reuters
Why is the Depardieu case so essential in France?
The #MeToo and #TimesUp actions within the US noticed ladies within the artistic industries calling out sexual harassment and assault by their male counterparts.
Whereas she noticed colleagues around the globe “thrilled that victims could finally feel confident to talk about the crimes they’d be subjected to”, she says in France “we had a very different experience”.
In 2018, dozens of feminine French stars and intellectuals signed an “anti-MeToo manifesto”, condemning the motion as a “witch hunt” and defending males’s sexual freedom to proposition ladies.
Though some, notably Depardieu’s co-star and good friend Catherine Deneuve, have publicly U-turned on the problem, it demonstrated a resistance to vary in French society.
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With actor and co-star Catherine Deneuve in Cannes in 1984. Pic: AP
Blanche Sabbah, a French feminist activist and comedian e-book creator, says: “We love to talk about being the cultural exception in France.
“Now we have this concept that in case you are some type of creative genius then you’re much less accountable for unhealthy behaviour – and that we’re extra sexually liberated – and do not concern ourselves with ethical panics like within the US. I feel that stopped the [MeToo] motion in its tracks.”
Ms McGrath describes this “cultural exception” as “an perspective {that a} man’s popularity and livelihood is extra essential than victims”.
Both women also point to a “common mistrust” of claimants and “false concepts” that they are bypassing the courts and telling their stories in the media to “get cash”.
“It is merely not true and comes from a lack of know-how that the French justice system doesn’t play a protecting position for victims of sexual violence,” she says.
“Victims are literally extra more likely to come out with money owed of hundreds of euros in the event that they undergo the justice system, which far exceeds any compensation they could get.”
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Gisele Pelicot exterior court docket after her husband’s conviction. Pic: Reuters
However whereas the “balancestonporc” – report your pig – hashtag struggled to realize momentum in 2018, the ladies say they’ve seen a shift – notably following the case of Gisele Pelicot and the conviction of her husband for raping and alluring no less than 50 different males to rape her whereas she was drugged and unconscious.
“It’s taken time, but finally we’re getting somewhere,” Ms Sabbah says. “Gisele’s case serves as a reminder that our culture has a huge influence on how we behave.”
These discovered responsible within the Pelicot case have been aged between 20 and 70 and included a journalist, nurse, firefighters, and a DJ.
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Mass rape trial that ignited a motion
Each ladies agree that Depardieu’s prosecution and conviction symbolize a “huge step forward” for victims of gender-based violence worldwide.
“The verdict also puts an emphasis on the notion of consent and the trauma induced by misogynistic attitudes, both by Depardieu and his lawyer.”
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Gerard Depardieu’s lawyer Jeremie Assous speaks to media after the sentencing. Pic: AP
However whereas Ms McGrath praises the ladies’s “incredible bravery” within the face of a “system which, in the majority of cases still overwhelmingly fails victims”, she cautions: “Sadly, I am not confident this will lead to meaningful cultural change in France.
“Depardieu is not going to serve a day in jail. It is a recurring function of the French justice system in the case of crimes towards ladies and youngsters: predators not often face precise jail time.
“What message does this send? What real deterrent is there when sentences like this are handed down?
“That in French tradition, a person’s popularity and physique of labor nonetheless matter greater than safeguarding the ladies who come ahead to report violence.”
