One of France’s most successful actors has been accused of sexually assaulting two women on the set of one of his films.
Gerard Depardieu, 76, has starred in more than 200 films over five decades, winning two best lead actor awards at the Cesars, as well as being nominated for an Oscar and 15 other Cesars.
On Tuesday, judges at the Tribunal de Paris are expected to reveal whether he has been found guilty of the two counts of sexual assault alleged to have happened in 2021, both of which he denies.
If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison or a fine of€75,000 (£62,000).
While the #MeToo movement ultimately led to the downfall of Hollywood film director Harvey Weinstein in the US, France’s #balancestonporc equivalent has struggled to gain momentum.
But Depardieu’s court case, coming soon after that of Gisele Pelicot, who waived her anonymity to reveal her husband had orchestrated her drugging and rape by more than 50 men, is proof for many that France is finally getting its own #MeToo moment.
Here, Sky News looks at the case – and what it means for women’s rights in France.
Image: Gerard Depardieu arrives at court. Pic Reuters
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Depardieu arrives for sexual assault trial.
What is he accused of?
Depardieu is accused of sexually assaulting two female crew members on the set of the film Les Volets Verts (Green Shutters) in 2021.
The anonymous women both claim the actor forced himself on them on multiple occasions, touching them over their clothes, the court was told.
Image: Pic Reuters
The first woman said in one incident, as she passed him in a corridor he grabbed her, pinned her down between his legs and rubbed himself against her waist, hips, and chest, making accompanying gestures and lewd comments.
The other woman claimed he touched her buttocks in public on more than one occasion, as well as touching her chest.
Depardieu denies the allegations and appeared in person at the Tribunal de Paris, telling the court: “I’ve always been told I have a Russian nature, I don’t know if it’s because of the drinking or the vulgarity.”
But he added: “I’m not touching the butts of women.”
One of the alleged victims claimed he behaved “like a madman” who took “pleasure in frightening me”.
Depardieu responded: “I understand perfectly if she’s a bit upset. I am capable of trash talk… I don’t have to talk like that, get angry like that, voila.”
He also claimed that he had been in a “bad mood” because the set was hot, which was difficult for him, being overweight.
The trial was due to start in October but was postponed until March after Depardieu’s legal team asked for a six-month delay due to his poor health. Suffering complications from diabetes and high blood pressure, they said he was unable to sit for long periods.
Image: In Cannes in 1997. Pic: Reuters
Separately, he also remains under investigation for the alleged rape and sexual assault of a 22-year-old actress. The woman claims Depardieu sexually assaulted her twice at his home.
She originally reported the alleged incidents in 2018 but the charges were dropped in 2019 following a nine-month investigation.
However, the case was reopened in October 2020 when the woman refiled the complaint.
In March 2022, Depardieu’s bid to get the case thrown out was rejected by Paris’s court of appeal, with authorities saying he would remain under investigation until the matter is either sent to trial or dismissed. He denies the allegations.
In April 2023, investigative French media outlet Mediapart reported claims of 13 women who said Depardieu sexually assaulted or harassed them between 2004 and 2022.
In an open letter in the newspaper Le Figaro that October, Depardieu said he had “never abused a woman”.
A group of 50 French stars, including singer and wife of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy Carla Bruni, wrote their own open letter defending him in Le Monde, condemning what they described as his “lynching” and describing him as “probably the greatest” French actor.
A week later, President Emmanuel Macron condemned the “manhunt” for Depardieu, calling him an “immense actor” who “makes France proud”.
Image: A women’s rights activist during a protest in January 2024 in Paris. Pic: AP
Who is Gerard Depardieu?
Depardieu was born in Chateauroux, central France in 1948. He left home at the age of 16 for Paris, where he got his first acting job with a travelling theatre company.
After a few minor film roles, his break came in 1973 with a lead part in Bertrand Blier’s film Les Valseuses (Going Places) – alongside his former theatre friends Patrick Dewaere and Miou Miou.
From there his popularity boomed and he became one of the most prolific French actors of the 1980s and 1990s.
He won awards for his roles in The Last Metro and Cyrano de Bergerac, which also received an Oscar nomination. He was made president of the Cannes Film Festival jury in 1992.
His success also saw him become a Chevalier of France’s Legion d’Honneur and its Ordre national du Merite – two of the country’s most prestigious honours.
Image: Former French President Jacques Chevalier awards Depardieu the Chevallier de la Legion d’Honneur at the Elysee Palace in 1996. Pic: Reuters
Across roughly 250 films, he has worked with more than 150 directors, including Jean-Luc Godard and Ridley Scott.
He became close friends with Robert De Niro after they starred together in Bernardo Bertolucci’s film 1900 in 1976.
Depardieu married fellow actor Elisabeth Depardieu in 1971. She starred alongside him in Jean de Florette and Manon Of The Spring in 1986. They had two children, who both became actors. Their son Guillaume died from pneumonia aged 37 in 2008. The couple divorced in 1996.
He announced his retirement from acting in 2005, claiming he had made “enough” films and wished to pursue other things.
In 2012 he moved to Belgium to avoid paying taxes in France. He wrote an open letter to the then prime minister, saying he was surrendering his French passport because he wanted “nothing to do” with his home country and the government was trying to “punish success”.
Image: With Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi in 2013. Pic: AP
Vladimir Putin personally signed an executive order to give him Russian citizenship in 2013. Two years later his films were banned in Ukraine over comments he made questioning the country’s sovereignty as an independent state. He has since condemned Russia’s war there.
He also claims to have been given citizenship by the United Arab Emirates.
In 2023 he was stripped of his National Order of Quebec after a documentary revealed him making lewd comments and sexual gestures on a trip to North Korea in 2018, which the region’s premier described as “shocking”.
Image: At the Netflix premiere of the series Marseille in the city in 2016. Pic: Reuters
Why is the Depardieu case so important in France?
The #MeToo and #TimesUp movements in the US saw women in the creative industries calling out sexual harassment and assault by their male counterparts.
But it “didn’t really take off in France” in the same way, Sarah McGrath, chief executive of Women For Women France, an organisation fighting against gender-based violence, tells Sky News.
While she saw colleagues around the world “thrilled that victims could finally feel confident to talk about the crimes they’d be subjected to”, she says in France “we had a very different experience”.
In 2018, dozens of female French stars and intellectuals signed an “anti-MeToo manifesto”, condemning the movement as a “witch hunt” and defending men’s sexual freedom to proposition women.
Although some, notably Depardieu’s co-star and friend Catherine Deneuve, have publicly U-turned on the issue, it demonstrated a resistance to change in French society.
Image: With actor and co-star Catherine Deneuve in Cannes in 1984. Pic: AP
Blanche Sabbah, a French feminist activist and comic book author, says: “We love to talk about being the cultural exception in France.
“We have this idea that if you are some kind of artistic genius then you are less accountable for bad behaviour – and that we’re more sexually liberated – and don’t concern ourselves with moral panics like in the US. I think that stopped the [MeToo] movement in its tracks.”
Ms McGrath describes this “cultural exception” as “an attitude that a man’s reputation and livelihood is more important than victims”.
Both women also point to a “general distrust” of claimants and “false ideas” they are bypassing the courts and telling their stories in the media to “get money”.
“It’s simply not true and comes from a lack of understanding that the French justice system does not play a protective role for victims of sexual violence,” she says.
“Victims are actually more likely to come out with debts of thousands of euros if they go through the justice system, which far exceeds any compensation they might get.”
Image: Gisele Pelicot outside court after her husband’s conviction. Pic: Reuters
But while the “balancestonporc” – report your pig – hashtag struggled to gain momentum in 2018, the women say they have seen a shift – particularly following the case of Gisele Pelicot and the conviction of her husband for raping and inviting at least 50 other men to rape her while she was drugged and unconscious.
“It’s taken time, but finally we’re getting somewhere,” Ms Sabbah says. “Gisele’s case serves as a reminder that our culture has a huge influence on how we behave.”
Those found guilty in the Pelicot case were aged between 20 and 70 and included a journalist, nurse, firefighters, and a DJ.
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Mass rape trial that ignited a movement
“She has proven that this is the problem of every man – that what you think your favourite movie star can do serves as an argument for justifying what crimes you would commit as a ‘normal’ person’,” Ms Sabbah adds.
Regardless of the outcome of the Depardieu case, both women agree that his prosecution represents a “huge step forward” for women’s rights and victims of gender-based violence.
“There have been three or four convictions [of men for gender-based violence] recently, so I think the way those cases are perceived now is different to how it was in 2018,” Ms Sabbah says.
“We have gone from ‘classement sans suite’ (no further action) to movie stars on trial.”
Flintoff previously described how he thought he had died in the accident – which saw him “pulled face-down on the runway” for about 50m under a three-wheel car.
The incident led to the BBC pulling the plug on Top Gear and it remains unclear if it will ever return.
Hollywood actor Brian Cox has told Sky News that Donald Trump is talking “bollocks” after suggesting there should be 50 or 75 years between Scottish independence referendums.
The US president said a country “can’t go through that too much” when questioned by reporters during his visit to Scotland this week.
The Emmy-winning star, who is an independence supporter, has hit back, branding him “that idiot in America”.
The 79-year-old told Sky News: “He’s talking bollocks. I’m sorry, but he does. It’s rubbish. Let’s get on with it and let’s get it [independence] done. We can do it.
“It’s been tough as there’s a great deal of undermining that has gone on.”
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SNP fraud probe causing ‘harm’
Mr Cox said the police fraud investigation examining the SNP’s finances has done “enormous harm” to the party and wider independence movement.
More from Ents & Arts
Nicola Sturgeon was arrested as part of the long-running police probe but cleared of any wrongdoing earlier this year.
The former first minister’s estranged husband Peter Murrell, who was SNP chief executive for two decades, appeared in court in April to face a charge of alleged embezzlement. He has entered no plea.
Brian Cox is preparing to return to the Scottish stage for the first time in a decade in a play about the Royal Bank of Scotland’s role in the 2008 financial crash.
Ahead of the Edinburgh festival performances, the veteran actor told Sky News: “I think it’s a masterpiece. It’s certainly one of the best pieces of work I’ve been involved in.
Image: Brian Cox speaking to Sky’s Connor Gillies
‘My friend Spacey should be forgiven’
The Succession star was also asked about his “old friend” Kevin Spacey.
The former House of Cards actor, 65, was exiled from the showbiz world in 2017 after allegations of sexual misconduct.
Spacey has admitted to “being too handsy” in the past and “touching someone sexually” when he didn’t know they “didn’t want him to”.
Spacey stood trial in the UK for multiple sexual offences against four men in July 2023 but was acquitted on all counts.
Image: Kevin Spacey
Mr Cox told Sky News: “I am so against cancel culture. Kevin has made a lot of mistakes, but there is a sort of viciousness about it which is unwarranted.
“Everybody is stupid as everybody else. Everybody is capable of the same mistakes and the same sins as everybody else.”
Asked if he could see a return to showbiz for Spacey, Cox replied: “I would think so eventually, but it’s very tough for him.
“He was tricky, but he has learnt a big lesson. He should be allowed to go on because he is a very fine actor. I just think we should be forgiving.”
He concluded: “What is the joy you get out of kicking somebody in the balls when they are down? That is what I cannot stand.”
The 1975 frontman Matty Healy has warned of a musical “silence” that would come without the pubs and bars that give UK artists their first chance to perform.
Fresh from headlining Glastonburyin June, Healy is backing a new UK-wide festival which will see more than 2,000 gigs taking place across more than 1,000 “seed” venues in September.
The Seed Sounds Weekender aims to celebrate the hospitality sector hosting bands and singers just as they are starting out – and for some, before they go on to become global superstars.
Healy, who is an ambassador for the event, said in a statement to Sky News: “Local venues aren’t just where bands cut their teeth, they’re the foundation of any real culture.
“Without them, you don’t get The Smiths, Amy Winehouse, or The 1975. You get silence.”
Oasis, currently making headlines thanks to their sold-out reunion tour, first played at Manchester’s Boardwalk club, which closed in 1999, and famously went on to play stadiums and their huge Knebworth gigs within the space of a few years.
Image: Oasis stars Liam and Noel Gallagher, pictured on stage at Wembley for their reunion tour, started out playing Manchester’s Boardwalk club. Pic: Lewis Evans
GigPig, the live music marketplace behind Seed Sounds, says the seed sector collectively hosts more than three million gigs annually, supports more than 43,000 active musicians, and contributes an estimated £2.4bn to the UK economy.
“The erosion of funding for seed and grassroots spaces is part of a wider liberal tendency to strip away the socially democratic infrastructure that actually makes art possible,” said Healy.
“What’s left is a cultural economy where only the privileged can afford to create, and where only immediately profitable art survives.”
He described the Seed Sounds Weekender as “a vital reminder that music doesn’t start in boardrooms or big arenas – it starts in back rooms, pubs, basements, and independent spaces run on love, grit, and belief in something bigger.”
The importance of funding for grassroots venues has been highlighted in the past few years, with more than 200 closing or stopping live music in 2023 and 2024, according to the Music Venue Trust. Sheffield’s well-known Leadmill venue saw its last gig in its current form in June, after losing a long-running eviction battle.
In May, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy announced the £85m Creative Foundations Fund to support arts venues across England.
But most seed venues – the smaller spaces in the hospitality sector that provide a platform before artists get to ticketed grassroots gigs or bigger stages – won’t qualify for the levy. GigPig is working to change this by formalising the seed music venue space as a recognised category.
“The UK’s seed venues are where music careers are born,” said GigPig co-founder Kit Muir-Rogers. “Collectively, this space promotes more music than any other in the live music business, yet it has gone overlooked and under-appreciated.”
The Seed Sounds Weekender takes place from 26-28 September and will partner with Uber to give attendees discounted rides to and from venues.
Tickets for most of the gigs will be free, with events taking place across 20 UK towns and cities including London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Leicester, Newcastle and Southampton