• Cinema Gérard Depardieu, accused of sexual violence by 13 women
  • French justice confirms the accusation of Gérard Depardieu for "rape"
  • People! Putin grants Russian citizenship to French actor Gérard Depardieu

Gérard Depardieu's acting careerbegins with a scandal. In 1974, he appeared in Les Valseuses, where he played Jean-Claude, a "gentle" scoundrel on the run. The success of the film is accompanied by a controversy: its very raw dialogues and the unfolding of the sexuality of the characters make it decidedly modern, even in the midst of the "sexual revolution". Critics revile it, the public loves it. Depardieu creates this rogue image, as vivid and authentic in life as on the screen, unfiltered and provocative.

His ability to change registers impresses, and he works with the greatest, Italian and French: Bertolucci, Pialat, Truffaut. His role as a passionate lover in The Last Meter (François Truffaut) with Catherine Deneuve earned him the César for Best Actor in 1981. He was awarded in 1985 with an acting prize at the Venice Film Festival for his role in Maurice Pialat's Police. The image of the scoundrel gradually fades to make way for more serious and mature roles.

THE AMERICAN DREAM

With Cyrano de Bergerac in 1990 comes the consecration. His resonant and fiery portrayal of the character in Edmond Rostand's play earned him a new Caesar, a palm at the Cannes Film Festival and an Oscar nomination for best actor, as well as a conquered critic and audience. Depardieu attracted the attention of American directors, and landed the lead role in the film Green Card in 1990 alongside Andie McDowell.

But the actor's American dream comes to a halt when, in February 1991, 'Time' publishes an interview in which Depardieu admits to having participated in rapes in his youth. The French press criticizes a translation error, is indignant at the puritanism of the Americans. However, the words are there, in an interview done for Film Comments magazine, in 1978.

There, the actor stated that he had participated in "too many rapes to be able to count them" adding that at that time "there was nothing wrong with it", that "girls wanted to be raped" and that "there was never rape", explaining: "It's just about a girl who puts herself in the situation she wants to be in. Violence is not committed by those who pass into the act, but by the victims, who allow this to happen." Depardieu denies, arguing that she had had very young sexual experiences, but that it was not rape.

The case acquires enormous proportions: the French Minister of Culture of the time, Jack Lang, denounces a "low blow against one of our great actors"; Jacques Attali, former adviser to President François Mitterrand, evokes "an ignoble defamation with a high financial cost". Americans are accused of wanting to sabotage Depardieu's chances of winning the Oscar for best actor for which he is nominated. Then he only acted in three Hollywood movies, the scandal was too big. But in France, his reputation thrives. In a country where frankness and insolence are valued, sexuality and scandalous statements of the actor does not arouse criticism.

DRUNK (SUCCESSFUL?)

The wind began to turn towards the end of the 90s. In 1998, Depardieu had a motorcycle accident with 2.5 g/l of alcohol in his blood. In 2011 he disembarked from a plane after urinating in an empty bottle when he had been denied access to the bathroom. A debate then opens: was the actor drunk, once again? He says no, passengers claim otherwise.

In 2012, drunk with 1.8 g/l of alcohol in his blood, he had a motorcycle accident again, without injuries and without collision with a third. Since the 2000s, the actor has suffered at least seven motorcycle or scooter accidents. Laughable eccentricities, no more.

His exile was harder for the public to digest. In January 2013, Depardieu became a Russian citizen, for tax reasons. According to a BVA poll for Le Parisien, 63% of the population disapproved of France's departure from the event. Once respected and admired, he was no longer in the smell of holiness among the population. He praises Russia, and weaves a friendship at least criticized with Vladimir Putin, whom he never hesitated to defend until the beginning of the conflict with Ukraine in 2022.

METOO AND MEDIAPART

Times change: the 'MeToo' movement begins to gain strength at the end of 2017. In 2018, actress Charlotte Arnould accused Gérard Depardieu of rape and sexual harassment. He was indicted on 16 December 2020.

On Tuesday, April 11, 2023, the French news site Mediapart publishes a survey conducted over two years, in which 13 women, makeup artists, actresses, technicians... accuse Depardieu of sexual violence. Victims also report laughter and lack of reaction from witnesses. Mediapart highlights the complacency of the French media, which protected the actor, who, even accused, remained everywhere. The actor was known to have engaged in violent behavior. They have long forgiven Depardieu for his eccentricities, his scandals, his words, under the pretext of "it's Gérard, he's a bit mocking". The actor has denied the accusations, but the public, tired of learning of barely concealed scandals, answers: "That's very short, Young man."

  • France
  • cinema

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