French actor Gerard Depardieu, who has faced a string of assault and rape allegations, goes on trial in Paris on Monday accused of sexually abusing two women during a film shoot in 2021. Depardieu, 76, who has made more than 200 films and television series, has been accused of improper behavior by around 20 women but this is the first case to come to trial. He is the highest-profile figure to face accusations in French cinema’s sometimes laggardly response to the #MeToo movement.

The trial, which is to begin at 1:30pm (12:30 GMT) before the Paris criminal court, relates 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, has 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 told AFP that producers who hired him knew they were “hiring an abuser”. The trial, initially scheduled to take place in October 2024, had been postponed due to the actor’s ill health. This time “he will be there”, Depardieu’s lawyer Jeremie Assous told AFP.

Speaking to the RMC broadcaster on Monday morning, Assous predicted the court would soon see the case “in Gerard Depardieu’s favor”. He said in the autumn that Depardieu had undergone a quadruple heart bypass and suffered from diabetes that was aggravated by the stress of the forthcoming trial.

According to Assous, Depardieu’s court appearances are to be limited to six hours a day and he will take breaks whenever he “needs them”. He has said Depardieu “denies all of the accusations in their totality”. One of Depardieu’s two accusers, the set dresser, reported in February last year that she had suffered sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexist insults during filming. 

‘Never, but never’

The second plaintiff, an assistant director, also alleges sexual violence. “What my client wants is for the trial to take place. But I am also worried about how Mr Depardieu’s defense will treat the civil parties at the hearing,” said lawyer Claude Vincent. Overall, around 20 women have accused Depardieu of improper behavior but several cases have been dropped due to the statute of limitations.

French actor Charlotte Arnould was the first woman to file a criminal complaint against Depardieu, in 2018. Last August, the Paris prosecutor’s office requested a trial for rape and sexual assault, accusations the actor has consistently denied over the years. “Never, but never, have I abused a woman,” Depardieu wrote in an open letter to conservative daily Le Figaro. He is no stranger to scandal, having made headlines for brawling, drink driving and urinating in the aisle of a plane. — AFP