Gérard Depardieu: That’s what the process against the superstar is about

He is faced with numerous allegations of abuse, now Gérard Depardieu is supposed to answer for the first time in court: On Monday, a trial against the French acting star begins in Paris, which deals with alleged sexual assault on two women in filming 2021. Another procedure for the allegation of rape is still pending. Depardieu rejects all allegations

Actually, the abuse process should have started in October, but Depardieu’s lawyer had reported his client sick. The latter has behind several bypass operations and suffered from diabetes, aggravated by the stress of the upcoming process, he said on the first day of the trial. “But Depardieu wants to be heard,” he said.

The actor, who has been celebrated for decades and has now fallen deeply in public opinion, will now be given the opportunity. The alleged attacks occurred during the filming for the film “Les Volets Verts” (the green shutters) of the filmmaker Jean Becker. The investigative magazine “MediaPart” made the allegations of the two women public in February 2024.

When shooting in a Parisian apartment, Depardieu had initially complained loudly that there was no fan. “I no longer get up at the heat,” he called. Then he “brutally captured” a decorator, groped her on the stomach and breasts and made obscene comments, said “MediaPart”.

When the woman fought back, Depardieu’s security guards intervened and pulled the actor away. “We’ll see each other again, darling,” Depardieu called. Depardieu accuses the second plaintiff, a director assistant.

In total, more than 20 women have accused Depardieu. In six cases, complaints were submitted, two of them for rape. A lawsuit of rape of a Spanish journalist and a complaint by a French actress have already been rejected because the cases were time -barred.

The allegations against Depardieu have caused a sensation in France. On the first day of the trial in October, around 100 people – mostly women – demonstrated in front of the courthouse. “Victim, we believe you – rapists, we see you” or “This is not a cinema, that is trauma” was read on transparent.

At that time, actress Charlotte Arnoild was also in the fully occupied courtroom. She was the first to file a lawsuit against Depardieu. She accuses him of raping her twice in his apartment in Paris. At the time of the event she was 19 and he was 69 years old. The investigation in this case had initially been stopped. Arnoild sued again, and the public prosecutor has now applied for a process. The decision of an investigator whether this happens is still pending.

Depardieu also rejects these allegations. In October 2023, he said in an open letter that he had “never misused a woman”. The young actress came to him “easy foot” and “had his bedroom voluntarily,” he wrote. He was “provocative, exuberant and sometimes rough” all his life, “but never a rapist”.

The 76-year-old was one of the most popular French actors for a long time. He worked with the most important filmmakers in the country and played in more than 200 films and series. However, in recent years he has fallen deeper and deeper – not only because of the allegations of abuse, but also because of his tax escape from France, the assumption of Russian citizenship and the proximity to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

While a former Minister of Culture was already initiating his exclusion from the Legion of Honor, Depardieu was still backed by French President Emmanuel Macron. He criticized a “hunt” on the actor and said at the end of 2023 that France could be “proud” on him. Since then, Macron has no longer commented on depardieu in public.