The French film star Gérard Depardieu was convicted by a Paris court docket on Tuesday on costs of sexually assaulting two girls engaged on the set of a movie by which he was starring in 2021. He obtained a suspended sentence of 18 months.
The sentence was in keeping with what the prosecutor had requested after Mr. Depardieu’s four-day trial in March. The actor was additionally ordered to be placed on an inventory of intercourse offenders.
The ladies — a set decorator and an assistant director — labored on “Les Volets Verts,” a 2021 French movie starring Mr. Depardieu.
The set decorator, now 54, who has solely agreed to be recognized publicly by her first identify, Amélie, stated Mr. Depardieu grabbed her by her waist and pulled her towards him whereas he was sitting down. Then he locked her between his legs and ran his palms over her buttocks, genitals and breasts whereas muttering obscenities, she stated.
The assistant director, now 34, stated that the actor touched her breasts and buttocks on three events as she walked him from his dressing room to the set in Paris. She has not agreed to be recognized publicly.
Mr. Depardieu, 76, denied the sexual assaults in each circumstances, although his story relating to the set decorator shifted.
At first, he stated he had grabbed her waist “to stop from slipping” however later stated it was “to get her consideration” so he may admonish her for doing what he deemed was a foul job. He stated he had by no means run his palms over her physique.
As for the second assistant, Mr. Depardieu stated her story was unimaginable, as he by no means traveled alone with out his bodyguard and was not in a position to stroll that far unassisted.
He stated he was not the “vulgar, impolite, trashy one who makes enjoyable of individuals” that he has been portrayed as within the media. “I respect folks. I like to assist folks,” he instructed the court docket in March.
However he additionally stated he was from a special technology and that his flamboyant, bombastic and unapologetic character was ill-suited for the present period.
From the start, it was clear the trial was about greater than two sexual assaults by considered one of France’s most well-known movie stars. What occurred within the court docket, as an alternative, was a part of a protracted overdue reckoning concerning the nation’s obsession with seduction, the uncritical adulation of its artists and the stalling in France of the #MeToo motion.
Mr. Depardieu is taken into account among the many biggest actors of his technology, starring in additional than 230 movies, together with “Inexperienced Card” and “Cyrano de Bergerac.”
He has been on the middle of the talk in France over the #MeToo motion since its arrival within the nation in 2017, with accusations of sexual abuse piling up towards him. He has vigorously denied the accusations, and has been publicly defended by outstanding French folks, together with main actors and even the president.
Greater than 20 girls have accused him of sexual abuse, principally by talking to French information retailers, significantly the investigation web site Mediapart. Six of these girls filed complaints with the police — two of which had been dropped as a result of they had been previous the statute of limitations.
This was the primary case towards Mr. Depardieu to go to trial.