French court sentences Gérard Depardieu for sexual assault

A court on Tuesday sentenced cinema legend Gérard Depardieu to 18 months in prison, with a suspended sentence, for sexual assault against two women during a filming session in 2021, in the first major trial in France with echoes of the #MeToo movement.

Accusations of sexual assault against women have rocked the film industry in France and the first conviction coincides with the start of the sector's main event: the Cannes Film Festival.

The Paris correctional court followed the prosecutor's request and sentenced the 76-year-old actor to 18 months in prison with a suspended sentence and a two-year disqualification from holding public office . It also ordered that Depardieu's name be added to the sex offenders' registry .

The actor, with more than 200 films and series in his career, has always claimed his innocence .

Depardieu 's lawyer, Jérémie Assous, announced on Monday that the actor would be present during the reading of the verdict, but the actor did not appear in court. He is filming a new production in Portugal with his friend Fanny Ardant.

The incidents under review date back to the 2021 filming of Jean Becker's film Les Volets Verts . Amélie, a 54-year-old set designer, and Sarah (pseudonym), a 34-year-old assistant director, accused him of sexual assault and harassment, as well as sexist insults.

Throughout the trial, the first against the actor for this type of accusation, Depardieu maintained his innocence: “I don’t see why I would waste my time groping a woman, her bottom, her breasts. I’m not a subway pervert,” he said.

He admitted to grabbing Amélie by the hips “to keep her from slipping” off a bench during an argument about the film’s set. The complainant’s version differs.

“He closes his legs and grabs my hips,” Amélie described, recalling the actor’s “strength,” “his big face,” “his red, very excited eyes,” and his words: “Come and touch my big parasol. I’m going to stick it in your p—!”

Sarah, in turn, reported that the actor touched her buttocks and breasts on several occasions, despite her clearly saying “no” the last two times. Depardieu denied the reports.

'Systemic' violence

The defense attorney called for the acquittal of his client, whom he considers a victim of “persecution,” and described Amélie and Sarah as “storytellers” in the service of an “organization of angry feminists.”

On Monday, legendary French actress Brigitte Bardot, 90, came to Depardieu 's defense, saying men accused of putting "their hands on a girl's ass" should be allowed to "get on with their lives."

For the Public Prosecutor's Office, the complainants were “women in a situation of social inferiority” in the face of an actor who “enjoys notoriety, an aura and a monumental status in French cinema”.

In addition to the trial, almost 20 women accused the international star of similar behavior, but most of the complaints were archived because the alleged crimes had expired.

French actress Charlotte Arnould was the first to file a complaint. In August, the Paris prosecutor's office requested that the actor be tried for rape and sexual assault.

The #MeToo movement to denounce sexism, violence and misogyny in the entertainment world began in the United States, but quickly spread to France, where new scandals are emerging frequently.

A parliamentary commission in France proposed in April almost 90 measures to tackle “moral, sexist and sexual violence in the world of culture”, which it considered “systemic, endemic and persistent”.