Gerard Depardieu found guilty of sexual assault
Gerard Depardieu has been found guilty of sexual assault on a 2021 film set.
The 76-year-old French actor was convicted by the Paris Judicial Court of having groped a 54-year-old set dresser during the filming of 'Les Volets Verts'.
The panel of judges will deliver a verdict regarding another complaint against Depardieu, and pronounce a sentence later on Tuesday.
His two accusers testified in court, with the set dresser describing how the actor pincered her between his legs as she squeezed past him in a narrow corridor.
She said he grabbed her hips then started 'palpating' her behind and 'in front, around'. She ran her hands near her buttocks, hips and pubic area to show what she experienced. She said he then grabbed her chest.
The woman also testified that Depardieu used an obscene expression to ask her to touch his penis and suggested he wanted to rape her.
She told the court that the actor's calm and cooperative attitude during the trial bore no resemblance to his behaviour at work.
The other plaintiff, an assistant, said that Depardieu groped her buttocks and her breasts during three separate incidents on the film set.
Depardieu, who has denied the accusations, did not attend Tuesday's hearing.
He acknowledged during the trial that he had used vulgar and sexualised language on the film set and that he grabbed the set dresser's hips during an argument, but denied that his behaviour was sexual.
Paris's public prosecutor had requested Depardieu be found guilty and given an 18-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 20,000 euros. The prosecutor denounced the actor's 'total denial and failure to question himself'.
The case is widely seen as a key post-#MeToo test of how French society and its film industry address allegations of sexual misconduct involving prominent figures.
Some figures in the French cinema world have expressed their support for Depardieu. Actors Vincent Perez and Fanny Ardant were among those who took seats on his side of the courtroom.
In 2018, actor Charlotte Arnould accused him of raping her at his home. That case is still active, and in August 2024 prosecutors requested that it go to trial.
Depardieu's long and storied career turned him into a French movie giant. He was Oscar-nominated in 1991 for his performance as the swordsman and poet Cyrano de Bergerac.
This is a breaking news story and is being updated
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