Gérard Depardieu was the ghost in the wings at the opening of the Cannes film festival, after a court found the French star guilty of sexual assault. The Oscar-winning actor Juliette Binoche had barely begun her duties as Cannes jury president when she was asked to pass judgment on Depardieu and the wider culture of misogyny and sexual violence within the French film industry. “Interesting timing,” she said of the verdict.
Depardieu denied allegations that he had sexually assaulted two women – a 54-year-old set dresser known only as Amélie and an unnamed 34-year-old assistant director – during production of the 2021 French drama The Green Shutters. But the judge ruled that the actor’s explanation of events was “unconvincing” before sentencing him to an 18-month suspended jail term. Depardieu’s legal team said it would appeal the verdict.
