By his personal recognition, Gérard Depardieu acts in a world that’s not his personal.
On day three of his sexual assault trial in Paris, the French cinema star admitted that he was given to “impolite” and “vulgar” language not thought to be acceptable.
It bought to the purpose a couple of years in the past, he mentioned, the place he insisted no feminine assistants ought to come close to him in his dressing-room, as a result of they have been too liable to be shocked.
“Figuring out the vulgarity of the outdated world, in the present day I attempt to keep away from being listened to by the brand new world – in order that I do not come throughout as detestable,” he advised the courtroom.
“I’m not very a lot comfortable with this new society… I believe my time is completed.”
However he denies being a sexual abuser.
“I do not see the way it may very well be enjoyable feeling up a lady, her buttocks, her breasts. I’m not a metro-train groper,” he mentioned.
Depardieu, 76, is accused of sexual assault on two girls on a film-set in 2021. Each say he touched them on intimate components of the physique.
In courtroom the actor repeated his defence: that he might have touched the ladies by accident or to maintain his stability, however that there was by no means any sexual intent.
If convicted, Depardieu may face 5 years in jail and a advantageous of as much as €75,000 (£63,000; $81,000). The trial ought to proceed till Thursday at the very least.
Since Monday the packed courtroom has been the scene of explosive exchanges between the 2 authorized groups – with Depardieu’s lawyer Jérémie Assous conducting an aggressive defence geared toward undermining the credibility of the 2 plaintiffs.
However on Wednesday it was Depardieu who was topic to intense questioning, and at one level appeared to indicate {that a} hand on a buttock didn’t represent sexual assault.
“I by no means carried out an act of sexual assault [against a plaintiff]. Anyway sexual assault in my opinion is worse than what she has mentioned,” he mentioned below questioning from the plaintiff’s lawyer Carine Durrieu-Diebolt.
Smelling blood, the lawyer swooped: “You are saying that sexual assault must be greater than a hand on the buttocks?”
Out of his seat shot Depardieu’s lawyer.
“No, that’s not what my shopper mentioned,” he mentioned, accusing Ms Durrieu-Diebolt of “making an attempt to create quotes that may be tweeted by the media.”
There may be evidently no love misplaced between the 2 sides.
Mr Assous is seen by the plaintiffs’ group as intentionally getting down to bait them. He in flip believes that feminist “activists” have been at work on the plaintiffs, encouraging them to file fees that they won’t in any other case have introduced.
The occasions below dialogue passed off in Paris in September 2021 when Depardieu was making a movie known as Les Volets Verts (The Inexperienced Shutters) about an ageing actor coming to phrases together with his declining powers.
It’s the first time the actor has appeared in courtroom on sexual assault fees. A number of different girls have made comparable allegations within the media, and he has additionally been accused of rape, all of which he has denied.
The primary plaintiff – a set decorator – advised the courtroom on Tuesday that after a minor argument with Depardieu he caught her between his legs, held her by the hips and advised her obscenities.
The second plaintiff – an assistant director – mentioned she had been assaulted by the actor on three events. On the primary, she had been accompanying him from his dressing-room to the set when she felt his hand on her buttock.
One other time he touched her breasts by way of her garments, and a 3rd time the buttocks once more. After she advised her superior what had occurred, Depardieu allegedly known as her a “snitch” and refused to have her come close to him.
For the protection, Mr Assous produced pictures taken on the finish of the shoot displaying Depardieu and the plaintiff apparently smiling fortunately collectively. She mentioned she had wished to play the incidents down, and that she was not even positive on the time if that they had constituted a penal offence.
It was solely two years later when she had seen media protection of Depardieu’s alleged sexual misconduct in different circumstances that she had determined to lodge a grievance with police, she mentioned.
She added the affair had left her in a state of anxious misery, and nonetheless in the present day she was having problem sleeping.
The trial has provided a uncommon likelihood for the French public to see the once-revered actor – star of movies like Inexperienced Card and Cyrano de Bergerac – at shut quarters.
He appeared in courtroom wearing black shirt and jacket, and leaning on the shoulder of his very giant bodyguard.
The bodyguard – named as Massika – was referenced frequently in proceedings.
Depardieu mentioned Massika’s everlasting presence made it unattainable for him to have carried out the sexual assaults of which he’s accused.
The actor is himself very obese, and advised the courtroom he had problem strolling greater than a brief distance.
“My joints all damage. Principally my physique is bust,” he mentioned.
Within the courtroom he sits on a particular field that Massika introduced with him.
It’s white, and coated in kiss-marks and signatures from individuals who have given Depardieu help.