French film star Gérard Depardie has acknowledged on Tuesday that she has grabbed her colleague, but has denied charges of sexual abuse, as he testified in court for the first time since numerous women filed police complaints against him.
The charges against Mr. Outpardieu have been set since the #metoo movement arrived in the country and the articles that criticized his behavior began to appear in the French press. At least six women filed a complaint with the police accusing Mr. Odpardieu of rape, sexual harassment and attack. He consistently denied all the charges.
In the Paris court, on Tuesday, he faced one of two women who accused him of sexual abuse in this case. Amélie, an appointed decoration that was identified only by her name, accused Mr. Depardieu of biting her on set “Les Volets verti”, Movie 2022. The actor said he grabbed her not to slide and ensure he could hear him. If he proclaims himself, he is facing up to five years in prison and fines of 75,000 euros, about $ 81,000.
Mr. Depardieu is one of the most famous French actors, starring in more than 230 films and winning a dozen awards and recognitions, and partly led by his unfiluted figure and a messy sense of humor. For many, The court case against him seems like a sign of progress that #metoo has finally achieved in the country, Where he satisfied a lot of resistance.
Sitting on a special cube -like chair, which he brought with him to the trial, Mr. Depardieu told the court that his reputation was ruined by a movement he said he had “became terror” and had unjustly painted him. “It’s been three years since I worked,” said Mr. Depardieu, 76.
In their testimony, Mr. Depardieu and Amélie painted very different pictures of what happened.
Amélie, 54, said in court that she worked on a film set in 2021 and that Mr. Depardieu was sitting in his Kockin stool in the hallway and loudly making messy statements between his taking.
“It’s so hot, I can’t get an erection,” she claimed he said at one point. Amélie also accused him of saying, “I can make an orgasm of a woman without touching her.”
After an initial interaction with him because of the Parasol she was looking for, the decorative said she tried to avoid the actor, but had to go to leave the building at the end of her day. She said he called her, grabbed her waist, dragged her toward him, and then tightened his legs around her.
Amélie said she felt trapped and terrified as she ran her hands around her buttocks and groin, then to her chest, saying, “Come, touch my parasol.”
“I was petrified,” she said in court. Later, what remained with her, she added, was that “he felt my fear.”
“I saw his eyes light,” she said. “He enjoyed scare me.”
A colleague advised her to go to the police, but said she did not want to cause the recording to stop abruptly. Instead, she finished the movie and then fell into a mental fog and depression, unable to work for about two years, she said.
Amélie went to the police last year after hearing about the other woman’s case, Charlotte Arnould, who accused Mr. Depardieu for rape in 2018 (Mr. Outpardieu denied the charges, but the investigation into the charge is ongoing.)
“Let’s urge that a copyman,” she said in court, “and I couldn’t be a copybody.”
Mr. Depardieu offered a completely different version of his interaction with Amélie, which was sometimes difficult to follow.
The actor said it was hot on the set at the end of a long week and was in a fake temperature and screaming at the fan. He said that sometimes he shouted vulgarity that the set was moving, but they “didn’t head to her.”
Mr. Depardieu said he was annoyed by a set of decorators because the room where it was supposed to happen was not well prepared and it was already late.
“You need to know if you want to do things in a flea market or want to be a professional decorator. What do you think you are?” He recalled he told her. He later said, “I discovered that the work was sucked in.”
The actor said he grabbed her hips to “not slide”, and he also approached that he would not have to shout. He said he reprimanded her, but he never, at any time, captured his feet or touched her parts of the sex body.
“I don’t see why I would like to nibble on a woman,” he said. “I’m not someone who is rubbing against others on the subway.”
Mr. Depardieu said he weighed 150 pounds and that he would not be able to grab Amélie between his thighs “with the belly I had.”
The trial will continue on Wednesday.
