Gerard Depardieu, who has triggered a watershed moment for the #MeToo movement in France, will stand in a criminal trial where he will be prosecuted on rape by digital penetration and sexual assault allegations filed by French actor Charlotte Arnould.
Arnould filed those charges in 2018, when she 22, and alleged that she had been raped twice by Depardieu at his home in Paris on Aug. 7 and 13. Depardieu was indicted on those charges since Dec. 16, 2020, and attempted to have the charges dropped in 2022, calling the accusations baseless, but the Paris prosecutor said there were “serious and confirmed evidence that justifies Gérard Depardieu to remain charged,” according to news outlet France 24.
Earlier this year, Depardieu was convicted of sexual assault against two women and received an 18-month prison sentence from a Paris court, following a four-day-trial during which Depardieu refuted all accusations. The verdict stemmed from sexual assault charges filed by two women, a set decorator and an assistant director, who worked on the shoot of “The Green Shutters” in 2021. Prosecutors also requested the court to fine the actor and obligate him to undergo psychological treatment, as well as have him registered in the sex offenders file.
The set decorator and the assistant director were part of the 13 women of sexually inappropriate behavior in a report published by French investigative news website Médiapart in April 2023.
While he’s now reluctantly retired from acting in the wake of these accusations, Depardieu was offered a role by Fanny Ardant, the well-known French actress-turned-filmmaker who took a stand for him during the trial — and shot the film in Portugal in the Spring.
From Variety US
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