Gérard Depardieu was ordered to face a criminal trial on Monday on charges that he sexually assaulted two women during the filming of a 2021 French film, deepening the French actor’s legal woes and further Damaging his global reputation as he faces mounting accusations of sexual violence.
The Paris prosecutor’s office announced that Depardieu, 75, will stand trial in October on charges that he sexually assaulted two women on set. “Les Volets Verts” Or The Green Shutters, a 2022 film by French director Jean Becker.
The prosecutor’s office did not identify the women or provide any details about the alleged attack. Depardieu’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday night, but the actor has repeatedly denied any sexual misconduct in the past.
The order to stand trial is a significant development for Depardieu – one of the most high-profile men in France to face charges of sex crimes, particularly self-inflicted crimes. New wave of accusations sweeps French film industry recent months.
Depardieu has been accused by more than a dozen women of molestation, harassment or sexual assault over the past few years, but he has not gone to trial in any of the cases.
He is an internationally recognized leading actor who has appeared in more than 250 films and has become a hot topic in French society in the #MeToo movement.
Some, Including President Emmanuel Macrondefended Mr. Depardieu, denouncing what they said was an unfair witch hunt against a famous actor who was deemed innocent.
Others welcomed the fact that Mr Depardieu’s behavior on film sets was finally being recognized by the French film industry. A belated internal reckoning Mixed with this is sexism and sexual violence.
This year, two women who accused Depardieu of sexual assault on the set of “Green Shutters” spoke anonymously to the investigative news website Mediapart.
A 53-year-old female set designer said that while filming in Paris in September 2021, Depardieu used extremely vulgar language and roughly molested her on the set; another was a 33-year-old assistant director who He said he touched her on several occasions, also during filming in the French capital. Mediapart February report.
According to Mediapart, the film’s production team asked Depardieu to apologize to the two women and said it had confirmed their claims with more than a dozen staff members working on the film.
Paris prosecutors announced on Monday night that Depardieu had been ordered to stand trial after hours of questioning by police in the French capital. The prosecutor’s office said he cannot appeal the order, although the hearing may be postponed.
Depardieu was already charged in 2020 with rape and sexual assault in a separate case involving French actress Charlotte Arnold, who said he assaulted her in Paris in 2018 Sexual assault, when she was 22 years old. That investigation concluded this month, prosecutors said. But it’s unclear whether Depardieu will also stand trial on those charges, the office said.
Another sexual assault lawsuit filed against him by another French actress is dropped in january Because the statute of limitations has expired.
