France convicts actor Gerard Depardieu for sexually assaulting two women

14 May, French

French actor Gérard Depardieu has been convicted of sexually assaulting two women on a 2021 film set.

A Paris court has convicted French actor Gérard Depardieu of sexually assaulting two women while filming the movie Les Volets Verts (The Green Shutters) in 2021. The 76-year-old actor received an 18-month suspended prison sentence, a fine of €29,040 (about $32,350), and was ordered into France’s national sex offender registry.

The court found Depardieu guilty of groping a 54-year-old set dresser and a 34-year-old assistant director, on separate occasions while making the film. Testimony described Depardieu using vulgarities and inappropriate physical contact.

The set dresser described being trapped and touched inappropriately, while Depardieu laughed and made obscene suggestions. The assistant described repeated groping incidents.

The court stated they received the impression that Depardieu misjudged the notion of consent and rejected his argument that the incidents were flirtatious or inadvertent. Each victim was awarded an additional €1,000 for humiliation by the proceedings.

Depardieu was absent from the hearing. The attorney, Jérémie Assous, explained that the actor plans to appeal, and he has also argued that the charges have no basis. Assous disagreed with how the court investigated.

While Depardieu is appealing his sentence, he will be presumed innocent, and the sentence will be suspended until retrial, which is not expected to happen until late 2026.

This conviction is very important because this is Depardieu’s first time being convicted in a courtroom despite over 20 public allegations in the media alleging his misconduct over the past few years. Surely, many of the other cases did not proceed to trial for lack of evidence and or limitation issues.

The verdict has triggered additional dialogue surrounding sexual violence, which permeates the arts and gives rise to mixed attitudes. While some defend Depardieu, others, including actresses such as Juliette Binoche and legal representatives who represented two victims,

highlight the necessity for accountability. Following the outcry over the current events, Paris’s Grévin Museum removed Depardieu’s wax figure in 2023.

The case has been understood as a significant landmark for accountability for abuse or harassment in the French film industry, which had historically operated under a veil of impunity. Evidence of the increasingly expansive momentum that the #MeToo movement is gaining in France, even into areas that have hitherto been culturally accepted, to largely going unchecked.

We see an increased effort to disrupt long-standing cultural perceptions of sexual conduct and accountability for powerful figures found in the arts.

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