PROSECUTORS IN THE sexual abuse trial of Gerard Depardieu today recommended a suspended jail sentence of 18 months for the French star actor.

The lead prosecutor, in a closing statement, also asked for Depardieu to be fined €20,000 and pay damages to the plaintiffs, two women who accuse him of sexual assault during the filming in 2021 of “Les Volets Verts” (“The Green Shutters”) by director Jean Becker.

“What we have here are evidently sexual assaults with intent,” Laurent Guy told the court.

He said Depardieu should also be ordered to undergo psychological treatment, and be included in France’s sex offender registry.

The plaintiffs are a set dresser, 54, identified only as Amelie, and a 34-year-old assistant director.

During the shooting of the film, they were “women in a situation of social inferiority” compared to the actor’s “celebrity” status and his “aura” linked to his role in French cinema, Guy said.

Depardieu, who has acted in more than 200 films and television series, has been accused of improper behaviour by around 20 women but this is the first case to come to trial.

The 76-year-old actor is the highest-profile figure to face accusations in French cinema’s response to the #MeToo movement, which he told the court on Tuesday would become “a reign of terror”.

Depardieu has denied any wrongdoing. “I’m vulgar, rude, foul-mouthed, I’ll accept that,” he told the court yesterday, but added: “I don’t touch.”

Asked today how he was feeling after the prosecutor’s statement, Depardieu said: “Tired.”

‘Wild animal’

A lawyer for one of the plaintiffs, Carine Durrieu Diebolt, said that the prosecutors had “demonstrated the guilt” of Depardieu.

But the actor’s lawyer, Jeremie Assous, said the prosecution’s case was “vague and imprecise”, calling the accusations against his client “lies”, having previously called the plaintiffs “liars” and “hysterical”.

Claude Vincent, a lawyer for the assistant director, in turn accused Assous of lacking a defence strategy, instead mounting “a defence of sexism”, and called Depardieu “misogynous”.

Depardieu yesterday told the court he loved women and was not a “groper” as he made a final plea.

“I adore women and femininity, I feel very feminine myself,” he said, sparking laughter in the Paris courtroom.

A day earlier, he said he had grabbed Amelie, the set dresser, by the hips but only “so I wouldn’t slip”.

Amelie said that the actor had behaved like a “wild animal”.

French actor Charlotte Arnould was the first woman to file a criminal complaint against Depardieu in 2018, accusing him of rape. French prosecutors have requested another trial over that case.

Depardieu became a star in France from the 1980s with roles in “The Last Metro”, “Police” and “Cyrano de Bergerac”, before Peter Weir’s “Green Card” also made him a Hollywood celebrity.

He later acted in global productions including Kenneth Branagh’s “Hamlet”, Ang Lee’s “Life of Pi” and Netflix’s “Marseille” series.

The court is to hear the defence’s closing statement next.

- © AFP 2025