French actor Gérard Depardieu said on Monday that he would not be appearing before a criminal court in Paris due to health reasons. Depardieu is facing charges of sexual assault that allegedly occurred during a 2021 film shoot.
Depardieu's trial for allegedly sexually assaulting two women during a film shoot begins this Monday, with numerous further complaints and a possible second court case already lying in wait.
75-year-old Depardieu was expected to appear at the criminal court hearing starting at 1:30 pm, however his lawyer Jeremie Assous has said he will be absent for health reasons and will ask for a postponement.
Speaking on French radio this Monday morning, Assous said his client will not be present, but "wants the truth to come out".
"[Depardieu] is extremely affected and unfortunately his doctors have forbid him from being present at the hearing, which is why he will ask for a postponement to a later date so that he can attend," Assous explained.
The actor is the highest-profile figure to face accusations in French cinema's version of the #MeToo movement, triggered in 2017 by allegations against US producer Harvey Weinstein.
The names of the two women accusing Depardieu of abuse during a 2021 film shoot have not been made public.
'False accusations'
One of the plaintiffs – a set dresser now aged 55 – reported in February that she had suffered sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexist insults while filming director Jean Becker's Les Volet Verts (The Green Shutters) in a private house in Paris.
"I expect the justice system to be the same for everybody and for monsieur Depardieu not to receive special treatment just because he's an artist," the plaintiff's lawyer Carine Durrieu-Diebolt told reporters.
The second plaintiff in Monday's case – an assistant director on the same film – also alleges sexual violence.
Assous said that Depardieu's defence would offer "witnesses and evidence that will show he has simply been targeted by false accusations".
He accused one of the plaintiffs of attempting to "make money" by claiming €30,000 in compensation.
'Hiring an assaulter'
Anouk Grinberg, an actor who appeared in The Green Shutters, has said that Depardieu had used "salacious words ... from morning till night".
"When producers hired Depardieu to work on a film, they knew they were hiring an assaulter," she added.
Grinberg said that in her experience, Depardieu had "always used sexual, smutty language" – but that his behaviour had become "much, much worse, with permission from his profession, that pays him for it and covers up his offences".
Around 20 women have now accused Depardieu of various sexual offences.
Actor Charlotte Arnould was the first to file a criminal complaint.
A judge has yet to rule on a request from prosecutors in August for Depardieu to stand trial for raping and sexually assaulting her.
An investigation is also underway in Paris after a former production assistant accused Depardieu of a sexual assault in 2014.
"Never, but never, have I abused a woman," Depardieu wrote in an open letter published in conservative daily Le Figaro in October last year.
Weeks later, President Emmanuel Macron shocked feminists by complaining of a "manhunt" targeting Depardieu, who he called a "towering actor" who "makes France proud".
Macron's remarks followed the broadcast by an investigative TV show of a recording of Depardieu making repeated misogynistic and insulting remarks about women.
(with newswires)
