Gérard Depardieu was 69 years old when the first complaint for rape and sexual assault was filed against him, in 2018, by actress Charlotte Arnould. Since then, twenty-one women have recounted, anonymously or openly, in the media or in court, the sexist comments or sexual violence that the actor inflicted on them. Six complaints have been filed, of which only one has so far been dismissed, for prescription of the facts.
Most of the time, the incriminated facts, which date back to the 1990s, took place on film sets, often in full view of some of the teams present. A behavior described, according to different testimonies, as accepted, tolerated or simply ignored. And always according to the same “modus operandi”, ranging from sexist and serious remarks to sexual assault and rape, including repeated touching.
During the six years that followed, the Depardieu “affair” had time to spill over from the courtrooms to impact the world of French cinema, accused at best of blindness, at worst of connivance, and to become a political subject on which even the head of state insisted on positioning himself.
Gérard Depardieu, who says he is not “neither a rapist nor a predator”, disputes the facts with which he is accused and remains presumed innocent. When his trial for sexual assault opens in October, before the eyes not only of French society, but also of the media from around the world, he will be 75 years old.