Gérard Depardieu should be found guilty of the “indisputable” sexual assault of a set decorator, as well as sexual assaults of an assistant film director, the French state prosecutor has told Paris’s criminal court, requesting the actor serve an 18-month suspended prison sentence.
Depardieu is on trial for the alleged sexual assault of the women, aged 54 and 34, during the shooting of the film Les Volets Verts (The Green Shutters) in Paris in 2021. He has denied any wrongdoing, telling the court: “I deny all of it.”
The state prosecutor delivered his closing speech on Thursday, the trial’s final day, calling for a guilty verdict and denouncing Depardieu’s “total denial and failure to question himself”.
The panel of three judges will give their verdict on May 13. If they convict Depardieu, they will decide a sentence. He could still face up to five years in prison – the maximum sentence applicable for the charge – and a fine of €75,000 (£63,000).
The state prosecutor said the actor must be judged “like any other citizen in the eyes of the law”, regardless of his celebrity status. He told the court Depardieu had targeted women “in an inferior position” who were economically dependent on the film set because it was their workplace.
In her testimony, Amélie, the set decorator, said Depardieu had trapped her between his thighs and grabbed her body on set. The state prosecutor said this was “indisputably” a sexual assault to which there had been three witnesses.
The assistant director, now 34, who has not been named in the media, said Depardieu touched her buttocks and breasts on two occasions. The state prosecutor said this constituted sexual assault and that other crew members had been made aware at the time.
Depardieu – the biggest French cinema star to face trial for sexual assault since the #MeToo movement – was described by the women’s lawyers as a “sexual predator” and “misogynist”.
Amélie’s lawyer, Carine Durrieu Diebolt, said the actor had committed misconduct for decades towards “little people” in the cinema world.
She told the court: “Maybe you think he’s a great actor and you love his films. Depardieu is also a sexual predator.”
She said many in the cinema world had kept quiet about his alleged sexual assaults of junior crew and staff. His status as an actor had made him both an artistic and an economic power in the film industry, in contrast with the plaintiffs who risked being blacklisted if they spoke out, Durrieu Diebolt told the court. She denounced what she called a “system of impunity”.
She said: “Mr Depardieu, when he’s touching women’s bodies, is exercising his power over them.” She said the actor would make crude sexual comments all day on the film set, creating an atmosphere of “ambient misogyny”.
Claude Vincent, lawyer for the assistant director, read a long list of obscene words and crude comments Depardieu is alleged to have used or made. “That’s how Gérard Depardieu behaves on a film set, that’s the atmosphere he’s imposing around him,” she told the court. She said Depardieu was “a misogynist amid misogynists”.
During the trial, Depardieu acknowledged that he had used crude language on set. He said he placed his hands on the set decorator’s hips but denied sexual assault.
Depardieu’s defence lawyer, Jérémie Assous, told the court in his final speech that Depardieu was not guilty and the case had been a “nightmare” and “hell” for the actor.
