French movie icon Depardieu guilty of sexual assault

PARIS – A court in Paris has found French actor Gerard Depardieu guilty of sexual assault against two different women on a film set in 2021, in one of the highest-profile #MeToo cases to come before judges in France.

Depardieu will appeal the conviction and 18-month suspended prison sentence, his lawyer said on Tuesday. 

A towering figure of French cinema, Depardieu had repeatedly denied any wrongdoing during the trial and his lawyer pleaded for charges against him to be dismissed. But judge Thierry Donard said Depardieu’s explanation of events had been unconvincing.

Depardieu, 76, who has made more than 200 films and television series, has been accused of improper behaviour by around 20 women but this was the first case to come to trial.

The trial related to charges of sexual assault during the filming in 2021 of Les Volets Verts (The Green Shutters) by director Jean Becker.

Anouk Grinberg, a prominent actor who appeared in the film, backed the two plaintiffs — a set dresser, 54, and a 34-year-old assistant director. Both women allege sexual violence.

Grinberg said Depardieu had constantly made “salacious remarks” during shooting, and that producers who hired the actor knew they were “hiring an abuser”.

Source – Bangkok News