French court hands Gerard Depardieu 18-month suspended sentence for sexual assault
The 76-year-old actor was found guilty of having sexually assaulted two women on a 2021 film set. Depardieu will appeal the decision
French movie star Gerard Depardieu’s fall from grace is now complete.
Depardieu was found guilty on Tuesday of sexually assaulting two women on the set of a movie in which he starred in 2021 and given an 18-month suspended prison sentence. He was also fined 29,040 euros (US$32,350), and the court requested that he be registered in the national sex offender database.
The actor, 76, has been convicted of having groped a 54-year-old set dresser and a 34-year-old assistant during the filming of Les Volets Verts (The Green Shutters). The case was widely seen as a key post-#MeToo test of how French society and its film industry address allegations of sexual misconduct involving prominent figures.
Depardieu, who has denied the accusations, didn’t attend the hearing in Paris. Depardieu’s lawyer said that his client would appeal the decision.
“It is the victory of two women, but it is the victory of all the women beyond this trial,” said Carine Durrieu-Diebolt, the set dresser’s lawyer. “Today, we hope to see the end of impunity for an artist in the world of cinema. I think that with this decision, we can no longer say that he is not a sexual abuser. And today, as the Cannes Film Festival opens, I’d like the film world to spare a thought for Gerard Depardieu’s victims.”
Depardieu’s long and storied career – he told the court that he has made more than 250 films – has turned him into a French movie giant. He was Oscar-nominated in 1991 for his performance as the swordsman and poet Cyrano de Bergerac.