The French movie star Gérard Depardieu was convicted by a Paris court on Tuesday on charges of sexually assaulting two women working on the set of a film in which he was starring in 2021.
The prosecutor had requested an 18-month suspended sentence and a fine of 20,000 euros, or about $22,200, after a four-day trial at the end of March.
The women — a set decorator and an assistant director — worked on “Les Volets Verts,” a 2021 French film starring Mr. Depardieu.
The set decorator, now 54, who has only agreed to be identified publicly by her first name, Amélie, said Mr. Depardieu grabbed her by her waist and pulled her toward him while he was sitting down. Then he locked her between his legs and ran his hands over her buttocks, genitals and breasts while muttering obscenities, she said.
The assistant director, now 34, said that the actor touched her breasts and buttocks on three occasions as she walked him from his dressing room to the set in Paris. She has not agreed to be identified publicly.
Mr. Depardieu, 76, denied the sexual assaults in both cases, though his story regarding the set decorator shifted.
At first, he said he had grabbed her waist “to prevent from slipping” but later said it was “to get her attention” so he could admonish her for doing what he deemed was a bad job. He said he had never run his hands over her body.
As for the second assistant, Mr. Depardieu said her story was impossible, as he never traveled alone without his bodyguard and was not able to walk that far unassisted.
He said he was not the “vulgar, rude, trashy person who makes fun of people” that he has been portrayed as in the media. “I respect people. I like to help people,” he told the court in March.
But he also said he was from a different generation and that his flamboyant, bombastic and unapologetic personality was ill-suited for the current era.
From the beginning, it was clear the trial was about more than two sexual assaults by one of France’s most well-known film stars. What happened in the court, instead, was part of a long overdue reckoning about the country’s obsession with seduction, the uncritical adulation of its artists and the stalling in France of the #MeToo movement.
Mr. Depardieu is considered among the greatest actors of his generation, starring in more than 230 films, including “Green Card” and “Cyrano de Bergerac.”
He has been at the center of the debate in France over the #MeToo movement since its arrival in the country in 2017, with accusations of sexual abuse piling up against him. He has vigorously denied the accusations, and has been publicly defended by prominent French people, including leading actors and even the president.
More than 20 women have accused him of sexual abuse, mostly by speaking to French news outlets, particularly the investigation website Mediapart. Six of those women filed complaints with the police — two of which were dropped because they were past the statute of limitations.
This was the first case against Mr. Depardieu to go to trial.
Catherine Porter is an international reporter for The Times, covering France. She is based in Paris.
Ségolène Le Stradic is a reporter and researcher covering France.
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