Film star Gérard Depardieu will stand trial in Paris on March 24 and 25 on charges of sexual assault against two women during the filming of “The Green Shutters” in 2021 – allegations that he denies. First accused of rape by actress Charlotte Arnould in 2018, the titan of French cinema has since faced accusations of sexual assault from more than 20 other women.
The “titan” of French cinema is about to stand trial. Film star Gérard Depardieu will appear before the Paris Criminal Court on March 24 and 25 on charges of sexually assaulting two women during the filming of Jean Becker’s film “The Green Shutters” in 2021.
Behind the ‘Green Shutters’
In 2021, French director Jean Becker offered the 76-year-old Gérard Depardieu a role that he seemed born to play: an acclaimed actor at the height of his fame, but worn down by age and years of lavish living. It was a film that straddled the line between real life and fantasy – and its production soon turned into a nightmare.
On February 23, 2024, 54-year-old set dresser Amélie lodged a complaint against the actor for “sexual assault”, “sexual harassment” and “sexist insults”.
Speaking to left-wing investigative outlet Mediapart, she described how the actor had “brutally grabbed her” in a corridor, held her still by “closing his legs around her like a crab” before “kneading her waist, her belly, right up to her breasts”.
Amélie said that Depardieu’s bodyguards had put a stop to the assault. She alleged that the actor had called out “We’ll see each other again, my darling!” as he walked off.
The set designer alleged that Depardieu had also made a number of obscene remarks the same day, including allegedly yelling out that he “wanted a ‘fan’ because he couldn’t ‘even get it up’ in this heat”.
Another complaint for sexual assault that had allegedly taken place during the film’s production was filed the next month on March 21. Sarah, the 34-year-old third assistant director, accused Depardieu of having touched “her buttocks” one evening as she walked with him from his dressing room to the set.
“Shocked”, she told Mediapart that she had “said nothing”. According to her statements, Depardieu had touched her inappropriately on two other occasions on the buttocks and breasts even after she had “tried to say no”. The two women said that they had notified the film’s production, who had allegedly failed to appreciate the seriousness of what had happened – and the impact it had had on them.
“It took me a long time to get over it,” Amélie said later. “I’d lost a lot of weight, and I was exhausted.”
Campaign of ‘slander’ or a code of silence?
Depardieu has denied the allegations. His lawyer stated that the actor was “the victim of totally false accusations” as part of a “veritable campaign of slander”.
“He’s on trial for having physically assaulted someone, but there’s no witness,” the lawyer said last October.
Although director Jean Becker has said that he was not aware of any bad behaviour on Depardieu’s part during the filming, actress Anouk Grinberg, who also worked on the film, has slammed what she described as the director’s “cowardice”, alleging that Becker “knew perfectly well that two women had been seriously assaulted”.
“Working on certain films with Depardieu, the team was told before filming started: ‘if there is the slightest problem, keep quiet. If you speak, you’re fired’,” alleged Grinberg, who was previously in a long-term relationship with late French director Bertrand Blier, who worked with Depardieu on nine separate films.
Originally set for October 28, the trial had been postponed at the last minute after Depardieu’s doctors “banned” him from attending for health reasons, his lawyer said, referencing the actor’s quadruple bypass surgery and diabetes. The actor has since been judged medically fit to appear in court.
The trial is not the first time that Depardieu has found himself accused of sexual violence. Having achieved worldwide fame as well as a domestic reputation as a titan of French cinema, Depardieu was the subject of a rape allegation filed in 2018 by French actress Charlotte Arnould, who accuses Depardieu of having raped her twice in his private mansion.
Depardieu is now the object of six separate complaints, including two for rape and four for sexual assault. More than 20 women have spoken out against him, either in the press or before the courts, accusing the actor of sexual and sexist violence.
The scandal, which has grown into the largest controversy launched by the #MeToo movement in France, has thrown the country’s cultural elite into turmoil. An open letter was published in 2023 denouncing the actor’s “lynching” by the media, followed by a rival op-ed calling for the alleged victims’ voices to be heard. Even French President Emmanuel Macron has courted controversy by publicly weighing in on the scandal, calling Depardieu an “immense actor” who had “made France proud”.
In August 2024, the Paris public prosecutor’s office requested that Gérard Depardieu be referred to the city’s criminal court in connection with the complaint of rape and sexual assault lodged by Arnould. The examining magistrate in charge of the case has not yet reached a decision on whether the case will go to trial.
