French cinema star Gérard Depardieu is due to ask a Paris appeals court on Thursday to overturn an order sending him to trial over allegations that he raped actor Charlotte Arnould in 2018.
Depardieu’s lawyers are expected to present their arguments during a closed-door hearing at the Paris court of appeal later on Thursday.
The 77-year-old actor is seeking to have the proceedings dropped, after a French investigating judge ruled in August 2025 that he should stand trial on charges of raping Charlotte Arnould.
Prosecutors, however, are expected to argue that the decision to send the case to trial should be upheld.
The appeals court is not expected to issue its ruling immediately, with a decision due at a later date.
Arnould, who was 22 at the time, has accused Depardieu of raping her at his Paris home on two occasions during the summer of 2018. She filed a complaint within days of the alleged incidents.
Depardieu has denied the accusations.
New legal team
Depardieu has changed lawyers since his conviction last year in a separate sexual assault case, and his new legal team is expected to challenge elements of Arnould’s account during Thursday’s proceedings.
A source close to the case said the defence would seek to undermine the case against the actor.
Arnould’s lawyer, Carine Durrieu Diebolt, criticised that approach ahead of the hearing.
“His new lawyers are persisting in disparaging the victim as a defence strategy,” she told reporters.
“We trust the justice system to finally bring this to trial,” she added.
The case is one of several legal proceedings and allegations that have transformed the public image of an actor who was for decades one of the best-known figures in French cinema.
In May 2025, a Paris court handed Depardieu an 18-month suspended prison sentence after finding him guilty of sexually assaulting two women during the filming of Jean Becker’s Les Volets Verts – The Green Shutters – in 2021.
Depardieu has appealed against that conviction. His appeal trial is scheduled to take place from 16 to 20 November.
From cinema icon to courtroom battles
Depardieu rose to prominence in France during the 1970s and 1980s and went on to become one of the country’s most internationally recognisable actors.
His performances in films including The Last Metro, Police and Cyrano de Bergerac established him as a central figure in French cinema, while Peter Weir’s 1990 romantic comedy Green Card helped turn him into a familiar name in Hollywood.
Over a career spanning more than five decades, he appeared in more than 200 films and television productions and worked with many of France’s leading directors.
But his reputation has been increasingly overshadowed in recent years by a series of allegations of sexual misconduct, which he has broadly denied.
Thursday’s hearing concerns only the question of whether the 2018 case involving Arnould should proceed to trial.
If the appeals court upholds the investigating judge’s decision, Depardieu would face a criminal trial on the rape charges at a later date.
If the court sides with the defence, the order sending him to trial could be overturned.
(with newswires)
