A new investigation has alleged multiple incidents of sexually inappropriate behaviour by the actor Gérard Depardieu. French investigative website Mediapart published on Wednesday the results of a months-long examination of Depardieu’s on-set actions over an almost-20 year period, ending last year.
The report, which features testimony from 13 women, alleges multiple incidences of obscene comments, groping and inappropriate acts by Depardieu on high-profile TV and film sets, including Netflix series Marseille, period biopic Dumas and the comedy Big House.
The star declined to comment to Mediapart director, but lawyers for Depardieu denied any criminal behaviour. Paris-based law firm Cabinet Temime said they felt the report was based on “very subjective assessments and/or moral judgments”.
The Guardian has also approached representatives of Depardieu for comment.
The actor’s alleged behaviour appears to have largely involved the unwanted touching and groping of young female actors, makeup artists and set technicians, as well as obscene comments and “persistent groaning noises”.
Such behaviour appears to have been broadly ignored by other crew members, and often laughed off as simply a quirk to be tolerated: “Oh, it’s OK, it’s [just] Gérard!”
Of the 20 producers or directors contacted by Mediapart, only 11 responded and, of those, all but one said they were unaware of such behaviour or any allegations of it on their sets.
Fabien Onteniente, director of 2008’s Disco and 2013’s Turf, both of which starred Depardieu, said that his casting director cautioned him the actor was “getting heavy with the girls” on their first film together. When he heard similar allegations five years later, he said he confronted the actor, saying: “Don’t start that again, it’s over! Behave yourself.”
Depardieu is perhaps France’s most famous – and infamous – living film star, whose declared loyalty to Russia as well as a spate of unsavoury allegations against him, including rape and publicly urinating in an aeroplane, have sullied his reputation in recent years.
In 2018, the actor Charlotte Arnould brought rape charges against the friend of her father, alleging that he twice sexually assaulted her. The case is still progressing through the French courts, following an unsuccessful attempt by Depardieu to have the charges overturned. He “completely rejects the accusations”.
Directors and producers have continued to hire the star, despite such controversy, and last year Depardieu appeared in five films, including a new version of detective series Maigret.
