French star actor Gerard Depardieu, on trial for sexual assault, told the Paris court on Tuesday that he was not in the habit of “groping” women, and called the #MeToo movement a “reign of terror.”
“I don’t see why I would go around groping a woman, her buttocks, her breasts,” Depardieu said in his first statement at the trial, in which he is charged with sexual assault on two women during the shooting of a film in 2021.
“I’m not somebody who rubs himself against others on the metro,” he added.
Depardieu said he was “not like that” in response to the accusations, adding that “there are vices that are alien to me”.
Depardieu, 76, who has acted in more than 200 films and television series, has been accused of improper behaviour by around 20 women but this is the first case to come to trial.
“I deny all of it,” the actor, dressed in black, said in the packed courtroom.
He is the highest-profile figure to face accusations in French cinema’s response to the #MeToo movement, which he told the court on Tuesday “will become a reign of terror”.
– ‘Wild animal’ –
The trial relates to charges of sexual assault during the filming in 2021 of “Les Volets Verts” (“The Green Shutters”) by director Jean Becker.
Anouk Grinberg, a prominent actor who appeared in the film, has backed the two plaintiffs — a set dresser, 54, identified only as Amelie, and a 34-year-old assistant director. Both women allege sexual violence.
Another prominent actor Fanny Ardant is expected to testify in favour of Depardieu later this week.
Giving his account of events during the shoot, Depardieu told the court that “it was a Friday, it was hot, it was humid. I weigh 150 kilos (331 pounds) and I was in a bad mood”.
He said that after a heated discussion with Amelie about choices on set, he grabbed her by the hips but only “so I wouldn’t slip”.
Amelie said that the actor had actually behaved like a “wild animal” and “wasn’t at all the same man that you see here today”.
He was “constantly making remarks about women”, including on their attire, she said.
She reiterated her account, first reported in February last year, on how she had suffered sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexist insults during the filming in September 2021.
She said Depardieu had boasted he could “give women an orgasm without touching them” and that he “brutally grabbed” her.
The actor pinned her by “closing his legs” around her before groping her waist and her stomach, continuing up to her breasts, she added.
She also said Depardieu made “obscene remarks”.
– ‘Salacious?’ –
Asked why she had not come forward immediately, Amelie said: “I didn’t want to talk about it, I felt humiliated. I was having a great run professionally and I knew that if I filed a police report, it would be the end of the film.”
She said she had a hard time finding work once the episode became known in the industry.
Depardieu challenged the accusation relating to the use of dirty language.
“What do you mean by salacious? You mean saying ‘pussy’? But I say ‘pussy’ all the time, even addressing myself, I think it’s funny,” he said.
Depardieu complained that he had not worked for three years.
“It’s horrible what they’re doing to me by refusing to give me contracts!” he exclaimed.
He complained of being denounced by women protesters.
“I defend freedom of speech, I like femininity but not women who are hysterical,” he added.
Tensions flied among the defence teams.
“Stop grilling him for an hour! It’s so despicable! It doesn’t make sense, it’s stupid,” exclaimed the actor’s lawyer Jeremie Assous, while Depardieu was questioned by a lawyer representing Amelie.
“It’s unbearable to listen to you,” added Depardieu’s lawyer, mocking his colleague Carine Durrieu Diebolt.
The trial, initially scheduled for October 2024, had been postponed due to the actor’s ill health.
His lawyer said back then that Depardieu had undergone a heart bypass operation and suffered from diabetes that was aggravated by the stress of the forthcoming trial.
Depardieu became a star in France from the 1980s with roles in “The Last Metro”, “Police” and “Cyrano de Bergerac”, before Peter Weir’s “Green Card” also made him a Hollywood celebrity.
He later acted in global productions including Kenneth Branagh’s “Hamlet”, Ang Lee’s “Life of Pi” and Netflix’s “Marseille” series.
