Paris — French cinema icon Gérard Depardieu is in court in Paris this week, accused of sexually assaulting two women in 2021. A set designer, 34, and an assistant producer, 54, claim the actor grabbed and groped them while filming “Les Volets Verts” (“The Green Shutters”) in Paris in August and September 2021.
Taking the stand Tuesday for the first time, Depardieu told the court he was nothing like the man described by the two women.
“I don’t see why I would grope a woman, her buttocks, her breasts,” he said. “I’m not somebody who rubs himself up against people on the metro.”
The actor said it was “very emotional” being in court.
The two women did not immediately report the alleged offenses. However, after the actor published an open letter in Le Figaro newspaper in October 2023 in which he stated: “Never, never have I abused a woman,” the set designer went to the police. She reported Depardieu for alleged sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexist insults.
The trial first opened in October, but it was adjourned due to Depardieu’s failing health. His lawyer told the court the 76-year-old was diabetic and had recently undergone a quadruple-bypass heart surgery.
Medical experts later deemed him fit to attend the trial, but limited the hearings to six hours per day, with a provision for 15-minute pauses if Depardieu needed them. The trial that opened Monday was scheduled to run for only two days, but it may go longer if his health requires breaks in the proceedings.
Depardieu was in court for the trial’s opening on Monday. As they walked in together, his lawyer told reporters the actor was happy to have the chance to present his side.
“Gérard Depardieu is someone who is very free, who can be extremely direct,” said his lawyer Jérémie Assous, who dismissed the accusations as “lies.”
Dozens of protesters, mostly women, gathered outside the courthouse, denouncing what they called endemic sexism and impunity for sex offenders in French cinema and French society. They told reporters they were pleased the actor was finally in court to answer the allegations, and waved placards with messages including: “Victims, we believe you; rapists, we see you”; “Touch one, you answer to all”.
A giant of French cinema, Depardieu has been more infamous than famous in recent years. He’s been accused of sexual misconduct by more than a dozen women in the movie industry. Many of the claims surfaced years after the alleged incidents took place, however, so under French law the actor cannot be tried for them.
In a high-profile move, the actor left his native France for a few years about a decade ago, moving to Belgium, having criticized French tax increases.
Depardieu has been open about his admiration for Russia under autocratic President Vladimir Putin, who bestowed Russian citizenship on him in 2013.
He later also became a citizen of Dubai.
Depardieu, who denies all the charges against him, faces five years in prison and a fine equivalent to about $80,000 if he is convicted.