Date published: 28/10/2024 – 09:31

2 minutes

Depardieu’s trial for allegedly sexually assaulting two women during a film shoot begins this Monday; Numerous other complaints and a possible second lawsuit are currently pending.

75-year-old Depardieu was expected to attend the criminal court hearing, which will start at 13.30, but his lawyer Jeremie Assous said that he could not attend the hearing due to health reasons and would request a postponement.

Speaking on French radio on Monday morning, Assous said his client said: will not be availablebut “he wants the truth to come out”.

“(Depardieu) is extremely affected and unfortunately his doctors have prohibited him from being present at the hearing, so he will ask for it to be postponed to a later date so he can attend the hearing,” Assous said. he explained.

The actor is the most high-profile figure to face accusations in the French cinema’s version. #MeToo movementIt was triggered by allegations against US producer Harvey Weinstein in 2017.

The names of the two women who accused Depardieu of harassment during a film shoot in 2021 have not been made public.

‘Unfounded accusations’

One of the plaintiffs, now 55, reported that she was subjected to sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexist slurs while filming director Jean Becker’s “Les Volet Verts” in February (“Green Shutters”) in a private house in Paris.

“I expect the justice system to be the same for everyone and that Monsieur Depardieu will not receive special treatment just because he is an artist,” the plaintiff’s lawyer, Carine Durrieu-Diebolt, told reporters.

The second plaintiff in Monday’s lawsuit (an assistant director on the same film) also alleges sexual violence.

Assous said Depardieu’s defense would present “witnesses and evidence to show that he was targeted with false accusations.”

He accused one of the plaintiffs of trying to “make money” by claiming €30,000 in damages.

‘Hiring the attacker’

Actor Anouk Grinberg, who starred in “Green Shutters,” said Depardieu used “obscene words from morning to night.”

“When the producers hired Depardieu to work on a film, they knew they were hiring an attacker,” he added.

Grinberg notes that in Depardieu’s own experience “he always sexual and obscene language” – but said his behavior “became much, much worse with the permission of his profession, which paid him for it and covered up his crimes.”

Around 20 women accused Depardieu of various sexual crimes.

Actor Charlotte Arnould was the first to press charges.

A judge has yet to rule on prosecutors’ request to try Depardieu for rape and sexual assault in August.

An investigation is also ongoing in Paris after a former production assistant accused Depardieu of a crime. sexual assault In 2014.

“I have never, ever harassed a woman,” Depardieu wrote in an open letter published in the conservative daily Le Figaro in October last year.

Weeks later, President Emmanuel Macron shocked feminists by complaining about a problem. “Manhunt” targeting Depardieuwhom he describes as a “rising actor” who “makes France proud”.

Macron’s remarks came after the investigative TV program aired a recording of Depardieu repeatedly making misogynistic and derogatory remarks about women.