Gérard Depardieu arrived at a Paris court on Monday for his trial over alleged sexual assaults on a film set, a case that places one of France’s best-known film stars at the heart of the country’s broader reckoning over sexual violence.
Depardieu, 76, has faced allegations of rape or sexual assault from more than a dozen women, all of which he has denied, but this is the first time he has appeared in court to answer accusations.
“He has obviously denied it from the beginning,” Depardieu’s lawyer, Jérémie Assous, told French radio RMC on Monday morning. “Like any person facing trial, he has the right to speak. He will finally speak.”
Depardieu walked past reporters and into the courtroom without saying a word, his hand on his lawyer’s shoulder, before the start of the trial around 1:30pm (1230 GMT).
The proceedings, which are expected to last up to three days, were initially scheduled to start in October but were postponed because of Depardieu’s ill-health.
Prosecutors allege that assaults against two women, whose full identities have not been revealed, took place during the 2021 filming Les Volets Verts, or The Green Shutters.
They accuse Depardieu of groping one of the women on the film set, pulling her towards him and trapping her with his legs before touching her waist, hips and breasts while saying obscene words. Three people witnessed the scene, prosecutors say.
They say Depardieu groped the second woman on set and in the street.
A lawyer for one of the women said before the trial that her client had been scared to come forward against Depardieu.
“There’s a fear, because he’s a cinema giant,” said Carine Durrieu-Diebolt. “It’s a struggle between David and Goliath and they are afraid of retaliation as they all work in cinema but at a much lower level than Depardieu.”
The lawyer for the second plaintiff did not reply to requests for comment.
If found guilty, Depardieu could face a sentence of up to five years in jail and a €75,000 (£63,000) fine.
Depardieu’s trial is the highest-profile #MeToo case to come to court in France.
