A Paris court on Monday postponed the trial of French actor Gérard Depardieu on sexual assault charges until March 2025. Despite the allegations, the actor has received the support of many in the entertainment industry and even President Emmanuel Macron. FRANCE 24's Sharon Gaffney speaks to Elsa Labouret, spokesperson for the NGO "Osez le Féminisme". She says that reverence for French culture in France means that some people can be sacrificed along the way.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Welcome to À Propos.
00:04It's the highest profile Me Too case to hit France.
00:07A court here in Paris has postponed the trial of French actor Gérard Depardieu
00:11because of concerns about his health,
00:14shifting the start of the proceedings to next March.
00:17The actor, who's denied any wrongdoing,
00:19is accused of sexually assaulting two women on a film set.
00:23The court also ordered an expert to assess the 75-year-old's health
00:28after his lawyer said he had heart trouble and diabetes-related issues.
00:33Eliza Herbert has the latest.
00:36Some 100 people gathered outside the Palais de Justice in Paris on Monday
00:41in solidarity with two plaintiffs
00:43who have accused French actor Gérard Depardieu of sexual assault.
00:47Protesters say that being a celebrity should not warrant impunity.
00:52They say that they're sacred and must be protected at all costs
00:55in the name of art, and sometimes even that they're the pride of France.
00:59We're here today to say no, Gérard Depardieu doesn't make us proud.
01:03But they did not get the chance to tell the actor face to face.
01:06That morning, his lawyer broke the news that he was asking for the trial to be postponed.
01:11Unfortunately, his doctors have forbidden him from attending the hearing.
01:17For this reason, he's going to request a postponement to a later date
01:21so that he can be present.
01:23Because Gérard Depardieu intends to be there.
01:25He wants to express himself.
01:29The actor is accused of sexually assaulting two women
01:32on the set of Les Volets Verts in August 2021.
01:36According to one of the plaintiffs, he grabbed her, trapped her between his legs
01:40and touched her body up to her breasts.
01:43But this trial represents just a fraction of the allegations against the actor.
01:48In all, six women have now lodged complaints against him for rape or sexual assault
01:53and three legal proceedings are in progress.
01:56Actress Charlotte Arnault alleges that Depardieu raped her twice at his Paris home in 2018.
02:02She told her story in this investigation on France 2,
02:05prompting more than 50 personalities to come to the actor's defence
02:09in a column in a French newspaper.
02:12Still, Depardieu's reach did not prevent the public prosecutor's office
02:16from requesting a rape trial.
02:22For more, we're joined here in studio by Alsa Labouret,
02:25spokesperson for Osée le Féminisme, a feminist group here in France.
02:30Thank you so much for being with us on the programme this evening.
02:34Proceedings today postponed until next year,
02:38but there were several dozen protesters at the courthouse in Paris today.
02:42Why was it so important for people to be there?
02:46You know, there's never a dull moment when you want to protest against, you know,
02:51the patriarchy and try to support women who are victims of sexual violence
02:57and try to protest against, you know, the very slow justice that is brought about.
03:02And I think in this case, we didn't even know that the trial was going to be pushed
03:07when we started to be there today, but it was again.
03:11I mean, it's things that take a really, really long time.
03:14It takes a long time for victims to speak up.
03:17It takes a long time for justice to be, you know, to be served.
03:20And again, the victims are going to have to wait a long time.
03:23People were there also to protest against a culture that we have that protects
03:27and supports and enables, you know, predators.
03:32And the example of Gilles Depardieu is a very telling one
03:35because he is a monument in French culture.
03:39Just, you know, I'm saying this objectively.
03:42He's a big figure in French cinema and he's been, you know, complimented again
03:50recently by the president of, you know, Macron, our country's leader.
03:55So the highest person who can probably protect him has spoken up in his favour.
04:01It's very difficult in this context for women and for feminists to be heard
04:05when we talk about sexual violence.
04:07And he has, of course, denied any wrongdoing.
04:10He's also accused of rape as part of a separate case.
04:13Just talk to us a little bit more about how significant this trial is,
04:17the current trial, the one that's been suspended until next year.
04:20As you say, Gilles Depardieu, he's known right across the world
04:24and he is a national icon more or less here in France.
04:27Well, you said it. That's why it's so emblematic.
04:29I think when we talk about sexual violence, it's something that can happen
04:32in every level of society.
04:35Everywhere where there's men and women, there will be violence
04:38because it's male violence.
04:39It's not contained in a specific job sector or a specific social strata.
04:48It's everywhere, including in show business and cinema.
04:52And it's something that the Me Too movement has particularly shown.
04:55It's not just there, but it is a big example of how men are protected
04:59by the power that they have, the symbolic power, but also real power.
05:03And in his case, he's one of probably the biggest names
05:07when it comes to French cinema.
05:09And to see him on the bench being accused, being brought to trial,
05:13is very significant.
05:14And that's why I think people are very, very looking forward
05:17to this trial taking place.
05:21And it's disappointing and frustrating.
05:23And I imagine particularly for the victims to see
05:26that we're going to have to wait a few more months.
05:29And how disappointing is it for them, for the alleged victims,
05:32that this case has been postponed until at least March?
05:35Well, I don't have their voice particularly.
05:37But I can only imagine.
05:39It's so harrowing, so slow, so difficult,
05:42to just, you know, the process from everything happening
05:45to realising that something that happened to you is wrong,
05:47it's not your fault.
05:48Everything that society is teaching us about sexual violence,
05:50it's very difficult to go beyond that and say,
05:52no, I'm a victim, I deserve justice, I deserve to be protected,
05:56I deserve to be heard.
05:57To then, you know, there's the whole process of pressing charges.
06:01If the police hears you, there's a whole inquiry.
06:03That's very harrowing because, you know,
06:05you have to answer questions and say the same stories
06:07again and again and again.
06:08It's very taxing.
06:09And then, you know, you have the trial.
06:11It all is very, first of all, very long, complicated and painful.
06:15But in this case, it's also very public.
06:17And, you know, you have the fact that the man that you are,
06:22you know, going, that you have, you know, accused of being,
06:27for legal reasons, accused of being an assaulter, an aggressor,
06:32is very famous and is supported by so many people.
06:36And you have this weight on your shoulders.
06:38It's probably very harrowing.
06:40And I can only feel for these victims.
06:42And I can only recognise the courage that they had in,
06:45you know, coming forward.
06:46And as you say, many people in the industry here in France
06:49had come out in support of the actor.
06:51The French president, as you say, had spoken up in his support as well.
06:55Why does it seem that the Me Too movement,
06:57it has been perceived differently here in France
07:00than it has been elsewhere, particularly in the United States, for example?
07:04Well, I don't really know exactly what would be different
07:07in France and the US, but I can tell you that we have
07:10a sort of reverence for our culture, I think, here in France
07:13that is quite specific.
07:15And it's, you know, our cinema, our actors and everyone,
07:18everything, and it's quite...
07:21I think everybody's quite protective of that.
07:23And we consider that, you know, you can sacrifice some people along the way.
07:28And it's, you know, the way nobody says exactly in that way,
07:31but it's the message that is sent every time that, you know,
07:34somebody who is accused of doing things that are so horrible,
07:37every time that they're protected, every time that they're supported,
07:40because they did something supposedly amazing for the culture.
07:43First of all, it doesn't mean that they can't, you know,
07:45have done horrible things, you know, in private, or, you know,
07:48also maybe in spite of all because of that, like I said,
07:51it's also intertwined with this culture of, you know, celebrity and power.
07:55But it's also, you know, the culture has nothing to do with violence.
07:58And there's no... It's not worth it.
08:01The price that these victims have to pay,
08:03and the price that we as a society pay for, you know, some movies,
08:07like I like cinema, but it's not worth it.
08:10We need to protect, like, we're talking about something
08:12that is on a massively different scale, you know, good movies
08:16versus, you know, some lives that were completely transformed
08:19and possibly forever.
08:21You know, the victims, they have probably suffered terribly
08:24and continue to do so.
08:26There's just no excuse to continue protecting the culture.
08:29Yes, he has, of course, denied wrongdoing in this particular case,
08:33but also as this trial comes, it was due to start,
08:37as we're in the midst of another very high-profile trial down in Avignon,
08:41and Dominique Pellicot and the 50 co-accused
08:44accused of raping and drugging his former wife.
08:48So is this perhaps a moment where France is coming to some kind
08:52of reckoning with how it deals with these kind of allegations
08:56and how it deals with sexual abuse?
08:58I do think that the society is changing.
09:00The conversation is changing.
09:02You see a lot of people realising, you know,
09:05what feminists have been trying to say for a long time,
09:08but the reality that sexist and sexual violence
09:11is not something that happens privately,
09:13it's not something that is just accidents or unique occurrences,
09:17but it's something that is pervasive and systemic
09:20and is due to masculinity and systems of power and misogyny.
09:25It's the same.
09:27You can find the same things socially, politically,
09:29that are happening in the DiPaggio case
09:32and in the case of Dominique Pellicot.
09:36I think a lot of people are realising what's happening,
09:39and something that we've seen is that in the past few years
09:42there's a lot more charges that are pressed.
09:45Victims go to the police a lot more often.
09:48So there's this change in not only victims speaking out,
09:52because victims have been speaking out,
09:54they're just not being heard, but victims are starting to realise
09:57that they should be heard, but it's not being followed
10:00by the justice system and the police.
10:02Right now we have a new government that has downgraded
10:05the Ministry for Equality to the Secretariat d'Etat,
10:08so it's a smaller budget, it's just less important.
10:11We don't see any priority in the 2025 budget
10:15on the fight against violence against women.
10:19I think society is changing slowly,
10:21the conversations are changing, we are talking about it more,
10:24but the justice system and the political class,
10:27they're not really taking this as seriously as they should.
10:30What do you think they should be doing?
10:32This problem isn't unique to France,
10:34for example, 114,000 reports of sexual violence here last year,
10:40including more than 25,000 reported rapes,
10:43but very many go unreported.
10:45Those who do, very few come to trial,
10:48and of those who do, very few people are convicted.
10:51So what exactly needs to change?
10:53We need to see it as a global problem,
10:55not just as isolated incidents,
10:57isolated aggressors, isolated crimes.
10:59It is a phenomenon, it is a problem of national security,
11:03domestic security,
11:05but women are the most unsafe at home
11:09in their relationships with men.
11:11Unfortunately, when you compare the budget for equality
11:14and the fight against sexual violence
11:16to the budget for defence, for example,
11:18we're not finding where the danger actually is.
11:23For half of the population, 52% of the French population is female.
11:29So there needs to be global change.
11:32If every rape case went to trial,
11:34the justice system would be so different
11:36because the budget couldn't handle it.
11:38We need to complete, we need to rethink things
11:41regarding this as a global and national phenomenon.
11:47Elsa, we'll have to leave it there for now,
11:49but thank you so much for coming in.
11:51We do appreciate your time on the programme.
11:53That is Elsa Labourez, spokesperson for Dosez le Féminisme.
11:57And that is it from us for today.