Gerard Depardieu: French actor’s sexual assault trial opens in Paris

Depardieu was not present at the trial due to ill health, according to his lawyer.

The trial of French actor Gerard Depardieu on sexual assault charges has opened in his absence, who has declared himself to be ill.

His lawyer, Jeremie Assous, said earlier that Depardieu, 75, was “extremely affected” by ill health and had asked for proceedings to be delayed until he could attend in person.

“Unfortunately, his doctors have forbidden him from appearing here today,” the lawyer said when arriving at the trial in Paris on Monday.

Assous said he would ask the court for a six-month suspension of the trial, following numerous other complaints and with a possible second court case already pending.

Depardieu is the highest profile figure to face accusations in France’s equivalent of the #MeToo movement, triggered initially in 2017 by allegations against US producer Harvey Weinstein.

The actor faces charges of abuse that allegedly occurred during a 2021 movie shoot. The names of the two women accusing him have not been made public.

Prosecutors accuse Depardieu of groping one of the women on the movie set, pulling her towards him and trapping her with his legs before touching her waist, hips and breasts while saying obscene words. They say that three people witnessed the scene.

Depardieu groped the second woman on set, and in the street, prosecutors allege.

French actor Gerard Depardieu has been charged with alleged rape and sexual assault. [File: Tobias Schwarz/AFP]

One of the plaintiffs, a set dresser now aged 55, reported in February that she had suffered sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexist insults while filming director Jean Becker’s Les Volet Verts, or The Green Shutters in English in a private house in Paris.

The plaintiff told French investigative website Mediapart that Depardieu had started loudly calling for a cooling fan during the shoot because he “couldn’t even get it up” in the heat.

She claimed the actor went on to boast that he could “give women an orgasm without touching them”.

The plaintiff alleged that an hour later, she was “brutally grabbed” by Depardieu as she was walking off the set.

The actor pinned her by “closing his legs” around her before groping her waist and her stomach, continuing up to her breasts, she added.

“I expect the justice system to be the same for everybody and for monsieur Depardieu not to receive special treatment just because he’s an artist,” the plaintiff’s lawyer, Carine Durrieu-Diebolt, told AFP.

Assous said that Depardieu’s defence would offer “witnesses and evidence that will show he has simply been targeted by false accusations”. He also accused the plaintiff of attempting to “make money” by claiming 30,000 euros ($32,500) in compensation.

So far, around 20 women have accused Depardieu of various sexual offences.

In response to the mounting number of allegations against him, Depardieu last year wrote in the French conservative Le Figaro newspaper, “I have never, ever abused a woman. Hurting a woman would be like kicking my own mother in the stomach.”

If found guilty, he could face a potential five-year jail sentence and a 75,000 euros ($80,947.50) fine.